Reaping the Whirlwind
by Azrael Heavenblade
Summary: Anko finds herself meeting an old comrade from ages past...Yukio Katsumasa. But why has he returned? Is his goal really to help the Konoha shinobi, or does the Cloud have his own agenda, one that involves Anko?
1. Default Chapter

This story is sort of an experiment for me to see if I can write in a different genre than I usually do, in this case being in the Naruto universe. Taking place some months after the current volume, vol.256, it assumes a successful rescue of Gaara, amongst other events. While mostly serious, there'll definitely be some humorous bits, and maybe a touch of romance if I can figure out the pairings correctly.

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Chapter 1: An uninvited guest 

A summer sun rose lazily over Konoha as a peaceful morning dragged on in the sticky heat. It was too early on in the season for the moisture of the spring rains to have dissipated, so the humidity in the air made clothes stick to skin, tempers rise as fast and as high as the heat, and many people stay indoors, clinging to the comfort of fans and air conditioning for those who had it. Anko however, was using the shade of one of the Fire Country's many trees as she took a break from sentry duty.

Not that it mattered much that she wasn't currently on the lookout for invaders, there had been no incidents for three straight weeks. But because of this fact, the raven-haired kunoichi was growing steadily more and more restless, and the heat and sweat certainly weren't helping. She had been having the time of her life during the operation to rescue Gaara from Akatsuki, but since the Kazekage was returned to Sunagakure, life had returned to 'normal', meaning rotation of missions between shinobi and of course, sentry duty.

Even a single day mission would've been ten times greater than an hour of sentry duty in Anko's terms, but she had found an efficient way of keeping her calm while on patrol. Dango. Her favorite snack was all that was keeping her nerves from fraying further, as she popped another of the dumplings into her mouth and chewed, slowly gazing around the forest. Yet all she could see were sunbeams shining through the trees, squirrels darting about, and the chirping of birds and incessant buzzing of cicadas were the only sounds that were readily apparent. Without a breeze, even the leaves were still.

Unfortunately that also meant that even her ordinarily light mesh bodysuit, jacket, and short skirt did little to alleviate overheating. She had removed the small jacket an hour earlier, as it prevented venting from her back and arms, but kept the skirt on as she didn't want to totally reveal her entire body. Though not exactly fishnet, the mesh left little to the imagination. It was a blessing though when it meant keeping cool. Anko pretended that she cared little for modesty, but in truth she had just wore the mesh for its shock value, and her jacket was hooked onto the mesh to prevent people from catching an eyeful. But there was nobody to shock out here, even if her chest was largely exposed with the jacket removed.

"Could this day get any more boring?" she thought to herself as she finished off the skewer of dango and expertly threw the wooden shaft to the tree where she had been assembling a leaf symbol, as she was wont to do when she had nothing else to focus on. If it could keep her sane during the chuunin exams, it could suffice here. Observing the array of skewers, she counted only five more to complete the leaf. She stretched out her hand to the platter of dango to get another skewer, but her fingernails clacked on empty ceramic.

"What the hell!" she wondered, coming alert in a second. Whipping her eyes to the platter, she confirmed that all five remaining dango skewers were missing. Staring in incredulity at the sight, a vein popped out on her forehead. How DARE someone steal her food? Her blood blazed hotter than the summer heat at the insult. Quickly sniffing the air, she confirmed the scent of dango trailing off into the forest behind her. With a spring, she was after the food thief.

As she leapt from branch to branch, names flickered through her mind as she gritted her teeth in anger. "Who was it this time? Genma? Kakashi? Gai!" She could think of nobody apart from those three aside from Jiraiya, who she didn't want to have to take on, considering what had happened the last time she had tried to assault him for robbing her of her ramen bowl at Ichiraku. Though she didn't mind occasionally indulging Genma's wandering hands, in the ero-sennin's case it had taken three days of showering to get the feel of his hands off her.

But this time, something was different. Gai would have appeared at this time to lecture her on her inattentiveness, Genma would be waiting to try and extort a kiss out of her in exchange for her food, and Kakashi would have left all five sticks standing upright on a tree just to taunt her. But none of them were in sight. Then she caught sight of a skewer embedded in the ground off to her right. Noting it but moving on after the scent of the dango, she soon spied another skewer further off to the right.

Her lips parted in a smirk as she raced on. This person was smart, throwing the skewers off into the distance so it would seem as if they were dropping them as they ate and ran, so to speak, but the dango scent was diverting in a different direction. Amusement replaced anger as she realized that this was far more interesting than sentry duty, and her ever-present thirst for adventure might actually be satisfied for once. Putting on greater speed, she raced towards the smell, ignoring the third and fourth skewers. Suddenly the scent disappeared.

"Dammit", she cursed mentally. The thief had caught on and erased the scent of the food after he…or she was finished eating, as she caught the final skewer out of the corner of her eye resting a few dozen feet away. But thanks to the calm air, she could hear the rustle of leaves up ahead as the motion of the thief set them shaking. "I'll get you sooner or later, buddy, and when I do…" she mused as she increased her pace.

As she leapt to the next tree, she caught sight of the Konoha walls up ahead. It figured the thief would probably race into the gate then disappear into the crowd. But as she got closer, she recognized the section of the wall the now visible figure of the thief was heading towards. "That fool, there's no gate anywhere near there!" she thought to herself, snorting derisively. But as they neared the tree line, the thief did something unexpected.

Leaping out into the clear space between the forest and the wall, the dango-stealer transformed into a cloud and drifted upwards. Reaching the spot where he/she had last touched bark, Anko stopped and stared upwards at the spectacle. It was then that she realized that this was no Leaf shinobi that had nicked her snack. "Cloud Jounin!" flashed through her mind as she recognized the jutsu. She had fought against Cloud in the war following the conflict with Rock almost a decade ago, and had seen it in action, but never like this. It worked by allowing the shinobi to drift in real or created clouds by splaying out chakra in all directions and float or hover like a kite through the heavier air and water particles. She had heard that jounin of Kumogakure could fly for short distances by manipulating the cloud while hovering, but had never seen it in action until today. It was meant as an escape and infiltration jutsu, and she didn't need to guess which use it was being employed as in this case.

Wasting no time, she leapt to the ground and raced across the gap to the wall and then headed straight up the wall, carefully applying chakra to her feet to climb swiftly. But by the time she reached the top of the wall, the cloud was already a third across the city. Leaping down to the wall to alert the nearest sentry, she was surprised to find nobody in sight. "That's right, the heat would keep all of them inside the guardhouses," she thought to herself as she panted from the effort, the heat now getting to her since she was out in the open. Ignoring it, she sprung out onto the roof of the nearest building and headed in the direction of the cloud.

As she jumped from roof to roof, she wondered why an alarm wasn't being raised, but then cursed as she realized that the cloud would look like any other cloud to a casual observer, as there were many puffy clouds filling the sky, and only an observer on level with the cloud, or at least higher than the street would realize that it was far too low. As she leapt onto a nearby railing, she surprised a flower watering Kurenai. Startled, the white-wrapped kunoichi recoiled from seeing Anko slam onto the railing, nearly toppling her beloved potted plants to the street below. Moreover, she realized that the younger shinobi wasn't wearing her jacket, and was covered in sweat.

Sighing in relief, Anko blurted out to the genjutsu user, "At last, another Leaf, there's a Cloud Jounin in the village, sound the alarm!" The response that she got surprised her. Tilting her head to the side, Kurenai asked, "What on earth are you doing, Anko, running about in only your bodysuit and ahem skirt? Regardless of the heat, cover up, will you? And what's this nonsense about a Cloud?" Anko looked to her left only to see the cloud had disappeared over the next building while she had paused to alert the unappreciative Kurenai. "Dammit, I'm serious! They're using the floating cloud jutsu and are heading into the heart of the city! I don't have the time to argue, I'll try and cut them off, you just get any jounin you can together and join me!" Anko explained hurriedly, and then leapt off after the cloud, shaking her head in irritation. Staring after the brash young woman, Kurenai shook her head and readjusted her pots, thinking, "Good lord, the heat and sentry duty have finally driven Anko insane! Not that she wasn't already…"

Catching sight of the cloud again, Anko realized that the enemy ninja was headed directly to the Hokage's office. This alleviated her anxiety only by a little bit. She was sure that Tsunade could handle any average jounin with ease, but a single ninja heading into the Fire Country leader's office smacked of assassination. She was surprised that she was so perturbed about this, her heart was thundering in her chest as she bounded over the rooftops towards Tsunade's office. Unfortunately, she wouldn't make it before the Cloud shinobi did.

Still two minutes away, she saw the cloud drift into the office window, and cursed her slowness. Giving it all she had, she raced through the courtyard, past surprised visiting clients and leaf ninja, and leapt up the four stories to the top level where she had seen the ninja disappear. Yet as she got close, instead of the sound of battle, she heard quiet talking. Screeching to a halt on the slanted roof, everything she had suspected about the enemy ninja got turned on its head. Sneaking over to the window, she poked her head in, curiosity replacing fear and anger. Seated at her desk was Tsunade herself, talking calmly to a tall, powerfully built young man with his back turned towards the window. From the lack of other people in the office, this man had to be the Jounin Anko had been chasing.

From what she could see from where she stood, the man couldn't be much older than she was, and was dressed rather inappropriately for the weather, wearing the usual long black pants of a shinobi, a black sleeveless cloth jacket with a furred collar and two stylized lightning bolts on the back, two metal armguards and leather boots with odd clawed heels. His upper arms were left bare, and were large and well-muscled, slicked with sweat from the effort to get here. Tracing her eyes up to his head, she could see spiky coal-black hair jutting out over what looked like a headband. Given another time and place, she might've let her gaze linger over the contours of his toned body, but the only thing that stood out to her was that he was massively built, six foot two at least, and probably over two hundred pounds. Though Anko knew next to nothing about his skills, that he possessed such a body spoke of extreme physical power, like the Akimichi clan of Konoha.

A cough from the Hokage drew her eyes back to Tsunade. The Godaime had a look of regret mixed with amusement on her face, and listening carefully, she heard the sannin reply to something the man had said, "I'm sorry, but my answer is still no. Figure it out yourself. I'm grateful that you're trying to make amends, but such a jutsu is mine alone, and a man of your talents should be able to find a way without my help, right?" The last few words were tinged with a soft tone that Anko couldn't place, butit sounded somewhat bitter. The man then spoke in a deep rumbling voice, like a far-off storm gathering, "Are you sure you won't change your mind? We both stand to benefit if I succeed, if not the whole world. If it'llhelp to persuade you,I have information that may prove very helpful to Konoha in the next few days…"

But Tsunade got an impudent grin on her face and remarked, "Whatever it is, it can wait. Thanks for the incense for Nawaki and Dan, but I've never been easy to charm. If this information can wait, it should, for I don't feel like talking anymore. It's the heat, you understand. Try tomorrow, when the weather is supposed to be cooler." The man chuckled softly, shaking his head, and muttered under his breath, "Like trying to squeeze water from a stone…Oh well, there are other people who will listen, and besides, she's got a point about the heat…" He then turned to leave, and Anko had to flatten herself on the roof to avoid being spotted, though the hot tiles burned the sensitive skin on her chest.

The cloud floated out of the wind again and headed off into the forest. Popping up inside the window frame, Anko crouched on the pane and asked the older woman, "Who the hell was that?" Tsunade lost her grin, and that same bemused look came over her face, looking somewhat saddened. "An old friend trying to make amends," she murmured, not to Anko in particular. Anko had never seen Tsunade like this, and that this man could bring out this much emotion in her leader was disturbing. Gently, she tried probing further with a question, "So what were you two talking about? What did he want in exchange for his info?" Jerking slightly, Tsunade gave a significant look to Anko, and responded scathingly, "That's none of your business, Mitarashi. And what were you doing listening in on your superior's conversation?" Boy, did Anko recognize that look.

Excusing herself, she leapt off the window sill feeling embarrassed. By now she was absolutely drenched in sweat, dizzy from the heat, her chest was probably burned, and now she was being berated by the Hokage. Anger flooded back into her frame as a desire for revenge filled her. Her day had been absolutely ruined by this one man, and she wasn't going to stop until she had gotten her fill of kicking his ass! Catching sight of the cloud, she ran after it, determination etched across her face, her teeth bared in a grimace.

She finally caught up to him a mile out into the forest as he prepared to leap across a chasm. "Stop right there, you bastard!" she shouted at the Cloud, coming to a halt on a tree branch not twenty feet from him, her hands going to her kunai holder at her waist. The shinobi slowly turned his head towards her, and as his face came into view, Anko couldn't help but gasp. What she had taken for a headband earlier was actually part of a half-mask that covered the top portion of his face, leaving only his mouth, hair, and jaw uncovered. What she could see of his face was covered in a short-trimmed beard, and the shape of his mouth would be attractive under other circumstances, but beneath the mask the effect was creepy. The white mask was reminiscent of the ANBU masks, but looked totally different from any she had seen before.

The cloud symbol was clearly etched in the forehead of the mask, with painted lightning bolts streaking down from the temples, cloud-like whorls on the cheeks, and smoke-like swirls coming from the nostrils in the mask. The eye-holes were cut to resemble slender, almond-shaped eyes, arching up at the tips, resembling mist hunter-nin's masks. From this angle she couldn't see into them, and the black stare was unnerving. Then, surprisingly, the man's lips curled into a smile and he asked, "So, how long are you going to keep following me like a lost puppy? I'm not certain my parents will let me keep you, they're not keen on pets."

For once in her life, Anko was rendered speechless, if for just a moment. "What?" she screeched indignantly, hurling a burst of kunai at the Cloud. Nonchalantly, he blocked them with an armguard, and eased himself into a comfortable position to look at her. Feeling his gaze on her, Anko found herself covering her chest as she became conscious of the lack of her jacket. Finally, he said, "Not too bad, definitely a better outfit for the weather than mine. Still, I think you'd better just go back and get something cool to drink. I came here peacefully, and I intend to leave the same way, and get something wet myself. I'd offer for you to join me, but you look rather…heated, pardon the pun." Again, Anko could scarcely believe her ears. Though she had expected him to act like a lecher, he actually had the nerve to sound concerned!

"As if I'll let you go that easily!" she growled, and leapt over to where he sat on the branch of the tree. "Shadow Snake Hand!" Snakes seemed to sprout from her arms as she attempted to latch onto him, but all the serpents ensnared was air as the cloud leapt away in a flash. She hadn't expected him to move that fast with his relaxed air, but she wasn't going to underestimate him again. Tracking her eyes quickly, she spotted him on another tree branch a distance away swiftly making seals. Preparing herself for whatever ninjutsu he was going to launch, she made ready to dodge, but instead darkness cascaded around her as he instead unleashed a genjutsu.

She found herself standing shakily atop a bamboo pole suspended over a field of endless kunai knives all pointed upwards, with blackness all around her. She snorted as she righted herself. "Kai!" With careful concentration she uttered the release word and banished the illusion. "Field of a Million Knives…not bad, but useless against a Leaf Jounin!" she boasted, coming out of the spell, but realized that her words were scattered to empty air. He hadn't intended to ensnare her at all, it was a delaying tactic!

More furious than ever, she fumed with rage as she realized she couldn't hear or see him anymore. Using her nose, she felt pleased when she caught his scent coming from not as far away as she had feared, he was sweating far too much with his clothes more suited to Cloud country rather than Konoha. After a few minutes, she caught sight of his back again. Since she wasn't making any attempt to be quiet, he caught notice of her and stopped, muttering, "Persistent, eh?" As she dashed towards him, she caught him making more seals. Ready for another genjutsu, she wasn't disappointed as again she was surrounded by blackness, but this time she was tied from head to toe with burning ropes. "Kai!" she yelled again, and the genjutsu, "Blazing Bonds", cleared. Preparing to go after him again, she suddenly realized she couldn't move. Looking down, she realized why, and cursed. He really had tied her up in the time it had taken to break the genjutsu!

A quick glance told her that he was nowhere near her location. "Goddamn you!" she shrieked after him, but only the hum of cicadas answered her. She managed to free herself after half an hour of wriggling, scratching with finger nails and eventually the edge of a kunai, but it was far too late to catch him. Sighing, she realized she was really going to get it from Ibiki for letting an enemy ninja slip away this easily. She made her way back to the village, feeling extremely tired, hot, and thirsty. Ibiki was in the strategic planning room of the Leaf shinobi headquarters, examining a map.

The scarred jounin interrogator turned around and glanced at her flushed face, reddened body, and disarrayed clothing and grumbled in amusement, "What happened to you, get your ass kicked for mouthing off again?" What little of a smile that he had faded as Anko explained what had happened, ending with how he had used two advanced genjutsu to escape. Rather than hollering for ANBU, he unexpectedly lifted her forehead protector and removed a glove to lay the back of his hand against her forehead. Nodding as if in confirmation of something he had expected, he growled to her, "Heatstroke. For mercy's sake woman, I've told you time and again that you shouldn't stay stationary while on sentry duty in this heat, you're hallucinating. Get yourself to the hospital, double-time, and stay off duty for a few days, somewhere cool, like your flat. You're no use to me if you chase phantoms." His voice was softer than it usually was during his usual berating of her mess-ups, and he actually looked worried about her.

"Why won't anyone take me seriously!" Anko screamed as she left the room. Then she remembered what she had overheard in Tsunade's office. He was going to come back tomorrow. Then she would have her chance. Smiling faintly, Anko made her way to the hospital, but halfway there she realized how dizzy she was from the heat. Her throat felt like it hadn't touched water in a year; it was as dry as any of the deserts in Sand. The ground seemed to shimmer in the afternoon heat as she swayed unsteadily, and then fell to the ground.

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Please feel free to comment/review, I'll continue the story if the initial response is good, or at the very least interested. If requested, I will provide my current pairings layout for those who are interested in a forenote in the next chapter. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Byakugan . . . defeated?

Anko woke up with a start to find herself in a hospital bed, feeling light-headed, but less drained than she was before. Her throat was still horribly dry, and as soon as she spotted a water glass on a table to her right, she stretched out an arm shakily to try and grasp it. But before her hand reached it, she heard a girl's voice say, "Let me get that for you," and a slender arm reached into her field of vision and handed the glass to her. Looking up, Anko was surprised to see Haruno Sakura standing besides her bed. "I didn't know you were a medic . . . " Anko managed to say after draining the blessedly cool water.

"Well, since I've been helping out Tsunade-sama so much lately, the hospital staff has agreed to let me become an assistant nurse when I'm recovering from missions," the rose-haired chuunin explained, going over to open the blinds on the room's windows, revealing a dark cloudy sky. "Did I . . . did I really have heatstroke?" Anko asked, worried about how she could've ended up in the hospital after blacking out. Sakura sniffed in amusement, arching a pink eyebrow. Lifting her nose into the air, she grumbled, "Ibiki-sensei is such an alarmist. You were just really dehydrated. Part of the reason why I handed you the glass is so you didn't tear out the IV." Looking down at her left arm, Anko spotted the clear tube running up to a bag filled with clear liquid, obviously meant to rehydrate her.

"But I'm still out of action," Anko stated; it wasn't a question. "For at least two days," Sakura replied, nodding. Sitting down in the sole chair in the room, she regarded the older woman with a semi-nervous gaze, then added, "I know it'll be torture, but at least you've got some rest, wish I could take a break." Her green eyes flickered to the window, and she smiled as she said, "It's too bad we're both missing the cooler weather." She turned to leave, picking up a clipboard from the door, but as she was stepping through the doorway, she heard Anko ask faintly, "Haruno . . . can I ask you something?"

Surprised, both at the tone and volume of Anko's voice as well as being asked a question by a higher-ranked kunoichi, she whirled back around and returned to the coal-haired ninja's side. Anko started to speak, but cut it off, as she struggled to find a way to phrase what she wanted to ask without coming off as abrasive. Finally, she decided on saying simply, "Why do I make so many people nervous or annoyed?" Lowering her eyes, she murmured softly, "What am I doing wrong? Nobody ever takes me seriously unless I piss them off." She heard a soft giggle, and glanced up, surprised to see Sakura smiling at her. "Did I say something funny?" Anko muttered, a confused look on her face.

Sakura shook her head gently, a hand lifted daintily to her mouth. "It's just that…I've heard almost those exact same words coming out of Naruto's mouth back when we were first in Team 7," she replied. Anko's brows furrowed as she grumbled, "That no-talent jackass?" Sakura's smile spread further, but she disagreed, telling Anko, "That might've been true a few years ago, but he's fitting in more now, he's calmed down somewhat . . . Though Jiraiya's been a bad influence on him. He's more . . . perceptive. He thinks before he talks now, he's started to make close friends even with somebody like Shino." She gave Anko a sort of sad look, then went on, "I think part of the reason why you're having trouble is that you're still acting the way Naruto used to be. I know the both of you always want to get going and do something exciting, but if you just take it easy, and try and pay attention to what others are saying and feeling, you'll find it's not hard at all to make friends."

Anko lay there in silence for a few minutes, before stretching out her right hand to place on top of Sakura's, surprising the teen. Though not looking at her, she could see that Anko's face bore a small, sad smile as she whispered, "Thanks, kid. Better get going, don't want to make you late." Sakura nodded, walking away slowly. Stepping once more out the door, she looked back in on the contemplating Jounin and realized that there was far more to Anko than she had first suspected when they first met, the day of her first chuunin exam. Anko spent what felt like hours just thinking, then turned her dark eyes to the window and said to herself softly, "Like Naruto, huh?" As she watched the clouds go by, she realized that she would miss her chance to catch that Cloud Nin as he made his second attempt today. Yet surprisingly, she wasn't angry. "I'll get him someday," she whispered to nobody in particular.

Naruto gave a loud whoop of joy at spotting the front gate of Konoha, dirty and tired and hungry but oh-so-glad to be back in his home country. Grinning from ear to ear, he surveyed the crowds treading the streets off in the distance, recalling how empty they had been when he'd left, thanks to the heat. He had been sent off on a C-Rank mission to Rain country to dispatch a troupe of brigands that had been roaming the countryside, too easy in his opinion, but he was glad that now that he'd finally passed the chuunin test he was getting tougher assignments. "At least I'm not finding lost cats for fat old noblewomen anymore!" he crowed, puffing up his chest. His stomach growled, reminding him of the first item on his to-do list: Ichiraku Ramen. But before he could take another step, he heard a deep voice say from off to his left, "Hey, you got anything to eat?"

Whipping his eyes over to the origins of the voice, he saw a tall bearded man standing against a tree, looking towards him with friendly ice-blue eyes. The man's spiky hair somewhat reminded him of Asuma, along with the beard, but the fact that it was accompanied by a moustache distinguished the two immediately. Surprisingly he was wearing a sleeveless black cloth jacket with a furred collar, and ninja-style pants, and as he began to walk closer to the blond-haired Leaf he noticed that his leather boots had claws on the heels. Naruto was usually suspicious of strangers, but something in this man's manner and tone of voice made him like the older man immediately. "Fraid not, but I was just off to my favorite ramen place of all time, if you want to follow me over!" Naruto replied, sticking out his right hand to greet the stranger. But as the man brought his arms around from behind his back, Naruto noticed that the right arm, from elbow to the hand was heavily bandaged. As he expected, the man extended his left hand and waited for Naruto to switch, then shook warmly, introducing himself as Yukio.

"So, you're here from Hidden Grass?" Naruto asked while waiting for the ramen to arrive, relaxing on the stool inside Ichiraku's booth. Yukio nodded, holding into a glass of iced tea, replying, "I'm here to ask the Hokage if she can send someone to help our shinobi fight off the recent scouting parties from Rock who have been making advances. We would've ordinarily sent a ninja here to ask, but they're all busy as you can understand, being undoubtedly a skilled ninja yourself, a chuunin if I'm guessing correctly." Naruto's eyes widened with pride at the words, 'skilled ninja', and pointed a finger at his chest, proclaiming, "You bet! In fact, I'm going to become Hokage someday!"

Yukio chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest as he calmly sipped the tea, smiling kindly at the boy's antics. "So you're going to replace Tsunade-sama, eh?" he asked, sounding amused, but encouraging. Naruto rolled his eyes, and remarked, "As if I'll have long to wait. You may have heard how pretty she is and young-looking, but . . . " he motioned for Yukio to listen to a whisper, then added, "But she's really a fifty-year old baa-san!" "Is she now?" Yukio replied after he leaned back upright, his eyes crinkling in mirth. "She must be using some sort of genjutsu to make herself look young then," he suggested, to Naruto's confirmation. The conversation stopped after the ramen arrived, as Naruto stuffed his face with the Super-Bowl Pork Ramen, while Yukio slurped his beef ramen more slowly, but with apparently equal hunger.

After paying, they continued to walk together as Naruto led Yukio down towards the Leaf ninja headquarters. As they passed the marketplace, they heard a girl gasp, and exclaim, "N-Naruto-kun! Hello! Who's your friend?" They both turned to see a beautiful, pale-skinned, dark-haired girl standing with her younger sister. "Hinata-chan! How's it going?" Naruto shouted, though louder than necessary to be heard over the crowd. Hyuuga Hinata blushed at his enthusiasm, but greeted him warmly with a short, chaste hug. She had been growing her hair out these past three years, and it now reached down to past her shoulders. Because it was summer, she had abandoned her usual jacket and instead wore a conservative t-shirt and capri pants. Beside her, Hanabi glowered at the fox-boy, her silvery eyes far more cruel and mocking than her sister's. She turned away in a huff at the affection the two were showing each other and went to look at a booth displaying expensive jewellery.

Naruto was halfway through Hinata's halting explanation of how her day was going when he heard Yukio say from behind him, "Well now, who's this?" They both turned to see the raven-haired man towering over them, a warm smile on his face. Naruto wasted no time in introducing her as his girlfriend, to which Hinata's face turned bright red, though she shook Yukio's hand when he proffered it to her. And to think that until just a few months ago she had been so embarrassed to hear him call her '-chan', like he used to with Sakura. All three resumed walking together, but Hanabi refused to join them, muttering that she would find her own way back to the Hyuuga estates.

"So, you both are Hyuuga main family members?" Yukio asked as they neared the ninja academy. Hinata nodded, though she was nervous around the large man, though she felt comforted by his kindly manner. She had been unable to erase a blush from her cheeks however, as Naruto insisted upon holding hands on the way over. As she spotted the academy, she recognized an excuse to make herself scarce. "Ah, Naruto-kun? I . . . I think I should go i-inside and see if Iruka-sensei has my class assignment yet," she explained, slowly slipping her hand from his, though she didn't really want to let go. Naruto recognized that Hinata was becoming uncomfortable with the proceedings and nodded, yelling to her as she hurried towards the front doors, "We're still on for Saturday, right?" Hinata blushed profusely, and nodded, waving as she hurried inside the main door, sliding it closed.

"She seems like a nice girl," Yukio commented, watching her leave. Naruto nodded vigorously in agreement, though his grin soon turned towards a sour look as he blurted out, "But Hanabi sure isn't." He was surprised to hear Yukio burst out laughing at that comment, and he asked between chortles, "I'm not surprised, given how disgusted she seemed to see you." Naruto grimaced, and remarked, "Yeah, she's never liked me much, but she's not too different from most of the Hyuuga family in that respect." As they started walking again, Yukio muttered, "Must make dating Hinata difficult, eh?" Naruto grinned impudently, and responded, "If I had a ten-yen coin for every time I had to sneak a date with her, I'd be able to afford ten dates free!"

As they walked up the stairs to Tsunade's office, Naruto had reached his stories about Neji, how he had defeated him in the chuunin exam finals not once, but twice over, yet the two were slowly warming up to each other, reaching the point of friendly rivals. One thing was puzzling Naruto though as they went through the ninja headquarters: every time they came close to a jounin, Yukio would make a point of turning his face away from them, or hurrying on ahead of Naruto. As he did so, Naruto couldn't help but notice the stylized lightning bolts on Yukio's jacket peeking out from under the backpack that he wore, which he assumed to be filled with traveling equipment and clothes, though he heard more clanking of metal than he expected.

As they stopped in front of the large double doors leading to Tsunade's office, Naruto peered in and found Shizune's secretarial office surprisingly empty. "I wonder where she went . . . " he wondered aloud, drawing a look from the Grass man. "Who?" he prodded. Naruto rolled his eyes and replied, "Tsunade's assistant, Shizune-san. She's a nice lady and all, she just needs to relax a bit. She's always hovering around Tsunade like a mother hen, and she carries a pet pig everywhere." He snorted much like a pig himself as he ended the sentence. Yukio moved to enter the office and Naruto trotted right along with him until he felt Yukio's hand on his chest, holding him back.

Looking up questioningly, he found Yukio smiling down at him, and the older man told him gently, "its just going to be boring contract negotiations, I doubt seriously you'd want to stick around. Naruto's eyes narrowed in confusion, then he shrugged as he dismissed it, and replied, "No problem, I'll just wait outside." Yukio seemed to relax and bit, and squeezed Naruto's shoulder before opening the Hokage's door and striding inside. Naruto tried to peer in after him, but the older man practically slammed it in his face in a surprising amount of haste to close the door. Huffing in disappointment, Naruto plopped down on top of Shizune's desk to sulk.

Meanwhile, Tsunade's jaw had plummeted practically to her ample chest. "Yo!" Yukio exclaimed, giving a wave. The Godaime's amber-colored eyes were wide with shock, as she stared at his audacity to walk straight into her office. "You walked through Konoha and into my office looking like that!" she blurted, her hands falling from where they had been tying up one of her pigtails. "Sure, nobody here except some of the elites know my face, and everyone'd recognize my mask. It's still not safe for a Cloud ninja to walk about Leaf country, though I hope to change that," he told her, his grin startlingly white amidst his dark beard. Tsunade slapped her forehead with her palm, and muttered, "I didn't save you just so you could gamble your life doing stupid things like this . . . "

Yukio's smile disappeared, and he replied in a low voice, "I seriously doubt that preventing war between Kumogakure no Sato and this country is a stupid thing to do." That got Tsunade's attention. Lifting her golden eyes up to look at his pale blue ones, she hissed, "So, a war is coming, eh? How do I know you're not here to start it? The Katsumasas are . . . " In a sudden burst of fury, Yukio cut her off and bellowed, "I'm nothing like my father! How dare you accuse me of bloodthirst?" Though her expression softened a bit, Tsunade sat more straight in her chair and murmured, "Thank the gods for that. So, how do you plan to stop this supposed war?" Yukio calmed at her softer words, and even smiled a bit, and suggested, "How about giving me what I want in exchange for the information? A fair trade I should think."

Tsunade smirked at the Cloud ninja and lifted up a stone paperweight on her desk and held in her palm as she responded, "How about you tell me right now?" To give emphasis to her intent, she crushed the rock in her fist, grinding it into powder. Recognizing that his bargaining strategy was not about to work, Yukio waved his hands, sputtering, "All right, all right . . . this is the situation . . . "

Naruto had been sitting outside the office for twenty minutes, and he was growing exceedingly bored. He had become quite annoyed when he realized he could have dropped by the academy to see Hinata and have been back here in the time he had spent just sitting in the secretary's chair. Though he thought that his girlfriend should be spending her time training and getting stronger, he was proud of her for deciding to teach the next generation of Konoha students. Naruto's blue eyes lit up and his whiskers twitched when he recalled how Hinata had finally told him how she felt about him in the school shortly after they had gotten back from rescuing Gaara. He had suspected it for a long time, but seeing her pale cheeks blush pink under her pearly eyes sealed the deal for him. He had given up on Sakura during his years of training with Jiraiya, and he had been thinking of Hinata a lot during the later part of his journeys. He didn't know much about the Hyuuga girl at that point, but he made sure to change that.

As he continued to shift through the materials in Shizune's desk, he came across a strawberry-scented postcard and laughed as he remembered how on his first date with Hinata that they had decided to just talk and stroll through one of the city's parks, and how he had decided on the spur of the moment to buy strawberries from a local farmer, and had shared them with the shy girl, and how she couldn't stop blushing as he fed her the fresh fruit, and how he had convinced her after an hour to return the favor. Sighing at the memory, he flipped the card over, and scanned over the writing on the back. Though he couldn't recognize some of the kanji, three characters caught his eye as he made it to the end. "I-ru-ka! What is Shizune-san doing writing to Iruka-sensei of all people?" He sniffed the postcard again, and realized that behind the strawberry smell was the familiar scent of Shizune's favorite perfume. "Is this . . . a love letter?" he wondered, his heart pounding at the possibility of spying on such a juicy secret.

"It's not nice to root through other people's things, you know, Naruto," he heard from behind him. "Wak!" he yelped, dropping the postcard, and it fluttered into the now open door into Tsunade's office. Yukio stood there smirking, as Naruto stammered, trying to explain what he was doing. "Forget it, boys will be boys I guess, just be glad it wasn't her diary, or I'd have to tell her about it," Tsunade called from behind Yukio, her arms crossed under her bosom. Naruto continued to stutter and fluster, protesting, but Yukio just grinned and dragged the protesting boy outside. As they left, Tsunade picked up the postcard and lifted it up to her face, as she wasn't wearing her glasses at the moment. After reading through it, a smile crept over her face, and she whispered to herself, "I thought Shizune was taking a lot of time off recently . . . "

Across town, Ibiki traced his fingers over the scars on his face incessantly, staring out the window at the shimmering heat rising off the roof of the next building, thinking, recalling the day that he received these scars . . . "Sir?" he heard Raidou say, looking at a map in his other hand. "He's back, Raidou, after all these years . . . we have a chance to get back at him. He'd recognize our faces, especially after what he did to them," Ibiki growled, fixing his eyes pointedly on the lightning burns on Raidou's face. "You can't be serious!" Raidou gasped, his throat tightening and his teeth clenching. "I'm deadly serious, Rai-kun," Ibiki replied, his face relaxing, using the old nickname he had given his former teammate. "You want me to go, sir?" Ibiki turned to the speaker, and a cruel smile etched across his face. "Yes . . . he's never fought anyone with your abilities, and given his preference for taijutsu . . . you'd be perfect," he told the younger man, who bowed, and leapt out the window to dash out into the street, his white eyes looking towards the area that Ibiki had pointed out.

"Really? So this…Sasuke is still out there with this . . . Orochimaru person?" Yukio demanded as he and Naruto walked towards the gate. Naruto was still shocked from the look he had gotten when he had first mentioned the snake-like leader of the Sound Village. Pure hatred had been in Yukio's eyes, and not for the first time did Naruto suspect that this man knew more about the shinobi world than he was letting on. He certainly didn't like the third sennin, he could tell that much. Naruto nervously ran a hand through his unruly blond hair as he replied, "Yeah, at least I think. In any case, I'm going to find him. I . . . have to, I made a promise." He looked down at the ground, as he remembered Sakura's tear-stained face as she begged him to bring their teammate back. He would some day, but something told him that Sasuke might find him first.

As they neared the gate again, Naruto noticed yet another oddity about the Hidden Grass diplomat. He kept dipping his left hand under his fur collar to rub at a certain spot on his shoulder, as if it ached, or itched. That gesture reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite place it. Though he was now intensely curious about Yukio's background, he was pleased to have met the man, he had found a new friend today, a weird friend to be true, but he was hoping that he would come back sometime, or if he could visit him on a mission to Grass. He tried to talk to Yukio a couple more times, but the bearded man was silent, glaring straight in front of himself as he walked. As they were losing sight of Konoha's walls, Yukio stopped, and offered his left hand to say goodbye. "Can I come visit you sometime?" Naruto asked, grinning and giving Yukio a thumb's-up. Yukio smiled, but his eyes were slightly sad as he muttered, "Sure, kid."

But as he turned to go, he stopped suddenly, and whipped back around towards the village, his eyes opening wide, and he cursed as he realized what was happening. He removed his pack and opened it up swiftly while Naruto whipped around, gazing in all directions, clueless as to what could be going on. He stepped around in a circle, but when he turned back to Yukio to ask what he had noticed, the words caught in his mouth. Yukio had strapped on a kunai holder onto his leg, various pouches on a belt were cinched around his waist, along with a katana at his right hip, an arm-guard covered his left forearm, and a metal shoulder-pad was on his left shoulder, a knife belted onto his other shoulder. And he was lifting something else out of his bag when he stopped and turned his head towards Naruto.

The boy couldn't recognize the conflicting emotions on the man's face, but finally Yukio said, "Naruto, I'm glad we met. I hope we can remain friends, but in order to do that, I need you to leave now. Run back towards the village, and don't look back." Naruto gasped, and his fists clenched. Yukio was a ninja, he knew it! He must've been here from Grass in disguise, hoping to throw off Rock pursuers, but they must have spotted him! "I can fight too, let me help!" Yukio violently shook his head, and told the teenager hurriedly, "You won't want to against this foe. Besides, after you see me fight, I'm afraid you might not like me anymore." Naruto was really confused now, as he shook and trembled, frozen to the spot, unsure of what he was hearing, feeling both worried for his new friend, and somehow . . . betrayed, as if he had found out something he wasn't supposed to, and Yukio was mad.

But before he could say anything, he heard rustling of leaves, and he pulled out three kunai to deal with whoever was coming, whether Yukio wanted help or not. "Blast, he's fast . . . Naruto, I'm sorry, I had hoped to spare you this, but I can't let this man see my face. Your sensei has probably told you all about me, and I truly wish you'd never found out who I am, but some things in life we can't avoid," Yukio muttered, as he lifted the final object out of his bag. Naruto's confusion grew as the older ninja placed a white half-mask on his head, the white metal gleaming dully in the daylight. The mask, with it's lightning-bolts and swirls, and dark eyeholes chilled Naruto to the bone to look at. Yet he still didn't know what Yukio was talking about, why would he have been told all about Yukio by Kakashi-sensei? It was then that Yukio turned, and Naruto could see what was on the forehead of the mask.

"So there you are! And it just figures that Naruto would be right here with you, yet never realize who you are." They both turned, Naruto forgetting his shock for the moment. Up in the trees, in white, beige, and black robes was Hyuuga Neji. The young jounin gazed calmly down from the branch at Yukio's masked face, and after allowing a few moments for effect, proclaimed, "I'll have you know that Ibiki and Raidou send their warmest regards, Katsumasa Yukio!" Naruto's jaw dropped. Neji knew who Yukio was? And Ibiki-sensei and Raidou-san? Neji spotted Naruto's confusion, and sighed, calling condescendingly down to the younger boy, "What, you couldn't recognize him? Did you even glance at the bingo-book Kakashi gave you? Even without his mask, his outfit is recognizable anywhere, Yukio . . . the Hungry Storm of Kumogakure no Sato!"

Naruto looked back towards the coal-haired jounin, and again saw the Cloud symbol etched into the forehead of the mask. Yukio . . . was a Cloud ninja? He had heard stories about Cloud from Kakashi and Jiraiya, but it suddenly occurred to him what Neji himself had told him about his childhood. He blurted out, "Cloud ninjas tried to kill Hinata's father . . . they tried to kidnap her themselves, they had Neji's dad killed!" His voice filled with anger, and he grimaced at the man he had thought he had trusted, whom he had eaten lunch with, and talked all day with, and yelled, "Why didn't you tell me?" Yukio sighed, and said, "Because I'm here to try and stop the same thing from happening again." "I doubt that," Neji said from where he was standing at Yukio's shoulder. Shocked, the Cloud shinobi dodged back, only to have Neji slam his palm into his right shoulder.

With a dull thump, Yukio faded into a block of wood. Neji smiled, and sniffed. The art of substitution, against a Hyuuga? This man was fast, be he couldn't possibly evade the Byakugan . . . With that thought, Neji's eyes puffed with chakra and veins swelled around his eyes as he activated the ocular ninjutsu, his vision expanding to encompass the whole area for dozens of yards around. Almost immediately, he spotted the Cloud shinobi off to his left and above him. He whirled and leapt right towards the older man, making a slicing motion with a glowing palm. Chakra leapt out in an arc and sliced through the branch that Yukio had been perched on, and as the Cloud jounin tried to dodge, he sent spikes of chakra flying in his direction. With a brief puff, Yukio stopped his fall briefly with the Flying Cloud jutsu, and then returned fire with a fistful of shuriken. Neji landed on another branch and whirled, the Kaiten spin blowing away the metal projectiles.

As Yukio landed, he grinned as he saw Neji still standing there. Confused, Neji quickly realized his mistake as he saw wires attached to the shuriken, which were now embedded in the trees all around him, and the wires ran back to the Cloud's hands. Neji leapt clear with all his strength as electricity flowed through the metal, sparks and arcs of energy filling the space he had occupied a second ago. Yukio grimaced, he knew he needed to not underestimate the boy. Though he was older by several years, this kid obviously knew his stuff, and he was a Hyuuga to boot. Running through signs, he called out, "Kaze-no-Kiba!" Thrusting his hands forwards, a burst of air sliced forth, and plowed through several trees on it's way towards its target. Yet Neji was able to see it coming, and dodged easily, racing towards the Cloud again.

Swearing, Yukio leapt to another branch, trying to stay out of the boy's reach. He knew all too well what the 'Soft Fist' technique could do, all Cloud shinobi from chuunin up were forced to learn about it. Yet as he dropped lower, hoping to get to the ground and dash among the trees, Neji puffed out another blast of chakra, slamming into the ground near Yukio's feet. He couldn't dodge backwards, as Neji's other hand threw needles into the earth behind him. With nowhere to go but back up, Yukio made quick signs and his hand crackled with electricity as air puffed out from under his feet. "Rising Dragon!" he bellowed, shooting upwards, fist extended. Unable to bring a hand around to strike fast enough, Neji contented himself with generating a shield of chakra to block the attack with.

But the force of the blow was enough to throw the teen back, shield or not, and Neji had to scrabble to grab a branch and steady himself. Yet he was still calm. Jounin or not, this man didn't know the territory as well as he did, plus he had yet to even try to escape from the byakugan's field of vision. Expanding the byakugan's reach further, he chose to view the Cloud's chakra pathways and the man dodged and weaved, trying to get into a position to attack. The man knew not to attack him up front, and he was becoming frustrated with his inability to attack at range. Sooner or later, Neji would either wear him out, or discover a weakness. And discover a weakness he did, for as he gazed at Yukio's arms, a sudden startling sight caught his eye. Neji smiled, and muttered, "There was no chance from the beginning."

His headband flapping, Neji sprang forwards and reached for Yukio's right forearm, chakra pulsing in the Soft Fist style. Yukio yanked the limb out of the way, his face turning white. Clutching the bandaged arm to his chest, he glanced in the Leaf's direction, cursing mentally, "Why did he go for this arm? Does he know about . . . Damn!" He weaved more signs with his hands, and called out, "Rai-no-Sasumita!" two prongs of lightning shot forth from his fists, and aimed to trap Neji between them like a pincer. Neji spun and swept away the thunder with the Kaiten spin, then lanced forth to grasp at Yukio's arm again. This time the raven-tressed man could not dodge completely, and chakra pulsed through his arm, causing waves of pain to shoot through his body.

As he landed a distance away, he glanced down at his arm and saw red begin to flow through the white of the bandages. "Oh god . . . he's re-opened it, I can't fight with this wound bleeding again . . . " Looking towards the Hyuuga, he saw him maneuvering for another attack, and he could feel the boy's gaze as the Byakugan tracked his every move. Grimacing, Yukio crouched and prepared. "This jutsu wasn't designed specifically for a Hyuuga, but I don't see why it can't work here . . . I need something to knock out those eyes of his, and this is the best way I know!" he thought to himself as he ran through the complex sign combinations. As Neji raced towards the Cloud shinobi, he was not prepared for what happened next. "Clouds of Oblivion!" Yukio bellowed as he set off the jutsu.

White clouds suddenly billowed forth from his person, and surrounded the whole area, even engulphing the mystified Naruto on the ground. Neji attempted to land on a branch, only to smack chest-first into one. "What's going on? Why can't I see?" he wondered, looking around, expanding the Byakugan. Yet all he could see were misty-looking floating balls of chakra, generating clouds of glowing mist around him. "This . . . . isn't the Kirigakure-no-jutsu . . . what is this?" Neji gasped, dispelling the Byakugan. This made it worse, as white encompassed his whole vision. Everything was muffled inside the clouds, he couldn't hear anything, and his entire nose filled with the smell of electricity and ozone. He was a sitting duck in this fog, he needed to get out as soon as possible! But no matter where he raced, he couldn't find an exit. It wasn't genjutsu; the Byakugan would pierce through it in an instant if it were…

He activated the Byakugan again, if at least to distinguish the branches from the misty orbs as he leapt from tree to tree. From out of nowhere, he felt something slice down his left arm, and he cried out in pain as he lashed out in that direction with a blow of chakra, yet he hit nothing. He gripped his arm where the strike had landed, and felt hot wetness flowing forth, he had been cut by the enemy's blade. He felt a gust of wind behind him and tried to dodge again, only to receive a slash along the back. As he desperately moved, trying to avoid the unseen assailant, an idea came to him. If this was a perfect assassination jutsu, all the Cloud needed do was blast him with a ninjutsu as he floundered about, helpless. Yet he used his sword or knife to attack . . . why? Because this ability was draining all his usable chakra, he probably daren't use any more for fear of breaking the jutsu.

Trying a bold move, Neji leapt forwards, looking for blank gaps in the glowing mist lit up by his Byakugan, and feeling carefully with his exposed skin for the air changes from a person's movement. His courage paid off, as he spotted a dark shape moving towards him quickly. Neji whirled and struck out with chakra needles, and he faintly heard a grunt of pain. Grinning, Neji jumped forwards again, right towards a glowing ball. Yet as it came in contact with his face, he was suddenly completely blind, and white-hot agony filled his eyes, as the chakra burned through the orbs.

Screaming, Neji plummeted from the treetops to the ground, smacking branches on the way down. He grasped at his face futilely as he tried to clear his eyes, but all he could do was scrape at the tears pouring out from the sockets as they burned in pain. Though he could not see it, the clouds were dispersing around him. Yukio landed heavily nearby, clutching his wounded arm, blood trickling down his hand. This was entirely unexpected, he had not anticipated the boy actually running headlong into one of the chakra balls, he could see that the younger jounin was blinded, and in serious discomfort. As Neji continued to claw at his face, he tore off his forehead protector and bandages in his struggles, and Yukio was struck by the sight of the fouin etched on the skin.

Kneeling down next to the boy, he extended his good hand and probed the seal gently, and grunted in confirmation when he discovered what it was. "So that's why our attempt to probe the Hyuuga head's body failed . . . the Hyuuga outsmarted us for sure," he grumbled, pulling his hand back briefly. He lowered it again after gathering chakra into his palm. Naruto had been racing towards them since the clouds had gone, and was shocked to see what appeared to be Yukio delivering a coup-de-grace to his friend. "No, stop!" he cried, gathering winds into his hand as he prepared to unleash the Rasengan. Yukio turned his masked face towards him, and exclaimed, startled, "What? You don't want me to heal him?" The winds in Naruto's hands blew away as he took in the words. Heal Neji? After fighting him so fiercely? What was going on?

Confident that Naruto was convinced, Yukio lowered his hand to the whimpering Hyuuga's face, and cool chakra pulsed into the boy's eyes, clearing away the burning chakra mist. As Neji blinked, he found he could see again, and witnessed the healing aura fade as Yukio lifted his hand away. He found himself looking up into a half-smiling Yukio's face. "You're a member of a branch family of the Hyuuga, are you not?" he asked, extending a hand to help Neji up. More confused now than Naruto, Neji accepted the hand up, and replied uncertainly, "Yes . . . it is my duty to protect the members of the main house of the Hyuuga, and to protect the Byakugan we all possess." Yukio nodded, his eyes closing behind the blackness of the eyeholes of the mask in thought, then opened again, and he told the younger ninja, "Well, you may need to fulfill that duty very soon. Head back to the city, and defend the main family with all your strength." But before he could explain further, he heard Tsunade say from the road, "Is this your idea of protecting the Hyuuga family from your countrymen's attack?" All three men looked towards the dirt path to see Tsunade and Shizune standing together, glaring at Neji and Yukio, with Ibiki standing behind them, looking outraged that Yukio was still alive. "Perhaps it's time to explain things more fully . . . " Yukio muttered, scratching under the band of his mask at the back of his head.

Two hours later . . .

"So, this family, the Yamakata clan are the ones responsible for the death of Hizashi? And they are here to attempt again to acquire the Byakugan?" Tsunade repeated, trying to clarify what she had been told. She was seated in her office, which was now filled with people. Naruto was standing not far from her shoulder, holding into a trembling Hinata, while Iruka placed a hand on both their shoulders, for Naruto had burst into his office not long ago, demanding to know if Hinata was all right. Ibiki and Shizune were leaning against the wall of the office, and Neji had been sent to the Hyuuga estate to prepare and inform his family of the threat.

"Yes, I'm afraid they are. Cloud has been thinking of making an alliance with Leaf for some time now, especially with the recent difficulty in farming, and Konoha's agriculture would benefit us greatly. Yet the Yamakata clan is leading the opposition to the move, instead arguing that now would be the best time to instead conquer the Fire Country, and take what we need after your recent war with the Sound and Sand. But they need to either disable the Hyuuga clan, or acquire their abilities in order to achieve success, or at least that's what the Yamakata clan head, Soshiro wants. He and his clansmen are on their way right now to try and kidnap a Byakugan-possessed Hyuuga, and extract the jutsu from their body, whether the person in question is alive . . . or not," Yukio explained, drawing shocked looks from all present.

"Excuse me, but you're scaring Hinata-chan here!" Naruto grumbled, causing Hinata to blush and press her forefingers together, and the rest of the people assembled to laugh, releasing a lot of the tension. "Of course, they are at least half a week off, so I came here to inform you so that a proper defense could be mounted. I cannot openly help myself, as I would be viewed as a traitor to the Cloud, even if it was to prevent war. If all the Hyuuga clan is protected, we should have no problem," Yukio told the assembled shinobi, relaxing his shoulders, rubbing absently at the arm that Tsunade had healed up.

This drew Hinata's attention to the bandaged limb, and she risked a quick Byakugan look at its interior. Upon seeing what had caused the injury, she gasped and turned paler than even before. "Y-y-Yukio-sa-san . . . " she stammered, tears coming to her eyes. Following her gaze, Yukio realized what she was looking at. "Don't worry, it's been there for a while now, I'm not going to die from it anytime soon," he told the girl, attempting to calm her, but she responded softly, "B-b-but . . . " This drew odd looks from Naruto and Ibiki, but Shizune and Tsunade were not at all surprised, for they knew what Hinata had seen. As Tsunade opened her mouth to give an explanation of the wound that wouldn't reveal sensitive information, Neji burst through the doors of the Hokage's office, followed by Kakashi.

"Hokage-sama, we have secured the Hyuuga compound, but not all family members are present!" Neji reported, trying to catch his breath. Kakashi stepped forwards, looking at Tsunade intently, and added, "We have people out looking for them, and they should be found quickly. We have Asuma and Kurenai out searching the mar . . ket . . . " He trailed off as he caught sight of Yukio, who leapt up from his seat and into a defensive stance. "YOU!" Kakashi bellowed, his one visible eye opening as wide as it could go, his voice filled with unquenchable rage and pain. The Chidori blazed forth from one hand while he lifted his headband from the Sharingan, the red eye blazing forth, while Yukio began to weave symbols swiftly.

"ENOUGH! There shall be no fighting in the Hokage's personal quarters!" Tsunade yelled, and extended an arm to clasp tightly about Yukio's hands, stopping his signs, while Iruka and Shizune grasped Kakashi, though they were having trouble from preventing him from moving. Kakashi writhed in their grip, forcing Ibiki to lend his strength to stop the Copy-ninja. Naruto had never seen Kakashi show much emotion ever at all, even during his time as part of team seven and to witness his sensei's good eye filling with tears and his other eye blazing with anger, his whole body contorted in anger sent him into speechlessness. Straining, Kakashi screamed, "Let me go! He killed her, he killed Rin! You can't expect me to stand here and let him walk free!" He was dragging himself inch by inch closer, the loose energy from the Chidori burning holes in Iruka's vest. Yukio himself was trying to free his arms from Tsunade's grasp to defend himself, but it was like a toddler trying to yank a favorite toy from the jaws of the family Rottweiler.

Suddenly, Hinata gasped, and exclaimed, "Hanabi is still out wandering the city!" Everyone stopped moving, and turned towards the terrified girl, her hands lifted towards her face. Neji and Ibiki nodded at each other, and headed out the door at full speed. After a moment's hesitation, Naruto joined them. At this sudden haste, Kakashi halted, though he didn't release the Chidori. "What is going on?" he demanded, his eyes never deviating from Yukio's mask. Sighing, the Cloud ninja began to explain again.

Outside in the preserve near the monument, Hanabi wandered alone, a shopping bag dangling from one hand. She had bought a few things after wandering away from her older sister and Naruto. She was still fuming as she shuffled her feet as she walked slowly, she could not see what her sister saw in that boy. All she knew is that somehow Naruto had gone from being an object of utter contempt of Konoha to its golden boy, somehow becoming one of its most promising ninjas. Not that it mattered to her, he was still a buffoon, he made her sister behave like a foolish common girl, and moreover, he was swiftly becoming a lecher like his so-called master, the creepy old white-haired 'toad-sennin'. Yet her father, Hiashi wouldn't drive him away, and he was even suffering the imbecile to come inside the compound, he had offered him tea last Tuesday!

Glowering, she sat down on the monument itself, her white eyes tightened in annoyance. Hinata too had changed, not for the better in Hanabi's view. She had reclaimed her position as the Hyuuga heir, practicing harder than ever, mastering the 64-fists style, the Kaiten spin, and she had even developed shielding and trapping jutsus using her chakra. Such jutsus were never going to aid her in actual combat . . . surely Neji-oniisan's chakra needles and blades were far more useful . . . Hanabi was succeeding in the academy every day, yet their father was more concerned with his older daughter's teaching and training, and his nephew's advances as a new jounin, who had announced his intention to join ANBU of all things. "The insufferable jerks . . . " Hanabi muttered, as she got up to leave.

"My my my . . . what are you doing out all alone out here little girl? Your mother must be terribly worried . . . " she heard a silky voice say from behind her. Whipping around, she saw a tall, lanky white-haired man standing there where nobody had been a second ago. He was covered from neck to feet in a flowing white cloak, which she couldn't see under, and his long white hair cascaded over his shoulders, everything about him was white, except for his dark eyes, which gazed at her as if she was a shiny new coin he wanted to snatch up. "And who are you?" Hanabi replied, perturbed, anyone who dressed this way and spoke in that manner had to be up to no good.

"You may call me Yamakata Soshiro, and I am here to take you away to my friends, because you see, you have something we want from you…" he crooned in a sing-song voice, striding towards her, his cloak billowing out like a cloud as he moved forwards while she retreated. Harrumphing, Hanabi went into a Soft Fist stance, and announced, "If you think I am easily raped, pedophile, you are sadly mistaken. I can defend myself as one of the finest of the Hyuuga clan." To her surprise, Soshiro's eyes crinkled in amusement and he burst out laughing. In his sickeningly sweet, honeyed tone of voice, he replied, "Oh, that is too funny! Rape you indeed! No no no . . . my plans are far different than that . . . Now, if you'll come along, we have work to do . . . " and reached out a gloved hand to grasp her arm.

Whirling back, Hanabi lashed out with a hand and sent chakra coursing through the man's chakra lines, and formed the 64-fists seals. Dashing forwards, she flashed her palms rapidly into the man's body, four times, sixteen times, thirty-two times, sixty-four times. Breathing hard, she stopped, and wiped a hand across her brow, remarking haughtily, "You were doomed from the start. You had only a shade of a chance, and now you have no chance at all, with all your chakra points blocked. I doubt you can even move." As Soshiro staggered back, the answer she received was again not what she was expecting. The white-cloaked man burst out in unearthly high-pitched giggles, and his form dissolved into white foam. "A doppelganger!" she thought to herself, using the Byakugan to try and spot his true body. She didn't have far to look.

Sitting on a stump not far away was an uncloaked Yamakata Soshiro, dressed in a fine white silk vest embroidered with gold thread in the shape of lions, and in matching pants with black leather boots that had spiked soles. He was not dressed for combat at all, as if he was mocking her efforts. He held a white cane in one hand with a gold handle, which he tapped against the stump while holding his jaw in his other hand, looking at her with that same amused expression. "No, my dear, you had no chance. For all your boasting, you did not have the sight to see what your strikes were doing each time you landed a 'hit' to my copy. Look at your hands," he instructed her, a grin slicking his face.

Hanabi looked down at her hands in shock, and saw that they were covered with glowing blue bubbles, each swirling like a cloud was trapped inside it. She gathered chakra into her palms to blow it off, but she heard Soshiro click his tongue in a patronizing manner, as he said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Calm down and come with me quietly, and we can get this all over with. Otherwise . . . " He extended the hand that had been holding his clean-shaven face and snapped his fingers. One of the bubbles on Hanabi's hands burst, and electricity coursed through the girl's body, causing her muscles to spasm, and she let out a shriek, collapsing to the ground.

Soshiro laughed again, haughtily, his eyes changing from amused to an almost hungry look, leering at her as he stated, "Each time you so much as try to gather any chakra to those hands, bubbles will pop, and you will be shocked over and over and over again. I can burst as many as I want, whenever I want. If you do not come with me, I shall burst a dozen of them." He extended his had, and beckoned her with scooping motions palm down, as if calling a friend to gossip. Enraged, Hanabi staggered to her feet, and hissed, "I'd rather die than come with you." Not trusting his words, she gathered chakra into her hands and blew it out of her chakra openings in an attempt to blow the bubbles off her hands all at once before she could be shocked. But all the bubbles burst at once, detonating a huge blast of electricity that surged around the girl, scorching her clothes to cinders and jerking her body about like a rag doll, until it seemed she would snap her own spine from the violent movements.

Eventually, she collapsed to the ground, her clothing in tatters, smoking from the lightning burns on her hands. Tut-tutting, Soshiro got off his stump and strolled over to the girl, taking his time. He picked her up nonchalantly with one hand and threw her over his shoulder as he strode off into the forest.

To be continued . . .


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Eyes to See

Kakashi and Yukio sat glaring at each other from across the strategy room, Kakashi kept fingering the rings on his shurikens, while Yukio's left hand was never far away from the hilt of his sword. Yet neither said a word, preferring only to watch and gauge each other, looking for any sign of hostility, even the barest movement would suffice, the tension in the room was so high. Finally, Yukio muttered, "It was self-defense." Kakashi's black eye opened wide, and he was swift to hiss, "Liar!" back at the dark-haired man. Sighing, knowing that the Leaf would never believe him, Yukio eased back into his chair and gazed up at the bamboo rafters of the Konoha shinobi headquarters and wondered how he could explain himself. Nothing came to mind immediately.

Returning his eyes to the white-haired jounin, he returned to looking him over. The two men were now allies, but only by necessity. Memories stood between them, a painful rift that would not likely be bridged in the short time that Yukio planned to be here. He honestly didn't want to try, but he did not want the copy-ninja to seize an opportunity in the coming mission to make sure the Cloud did not come back. Even if they weren't going to become best friends, he had to make sure that Kakashi would at least tolerate working with him, and that meant making sure that his hatred of the other jounin was lessened.

Kakashi could barely keep still as he sat in his chair near the door of the room. Every fiber of his body was telling him to launch himself at the sable-bearded man across the room, but his mind was keeping him put. His thoughts kept returning to Rin. He had been there, at the end, arriving just in time to see the Cloud tear into her with his jutsu, to hold what was left of her cooling body as she faded away. It had been war, but he had sworn, after…after Obito that none of his comrades would ever die if he couldn't help it, but they had. Rin wasn't the only one who died in that war, but she had been the last that Kakashi would tolerate. He could still remember it like yesterday…he had said goodbye to Rin as they had left the camp, running his hands through her chestnut hair, as she traced her finger along the scar of his eye, the one that she had transplanted in the previous war with Rock…that had been the last time he had seen her alive and conscious.

Yukio was growing tired of waiting for Tsunade to return with the team of shinobi he had requested. This mission would require complex planning, and he needed to know exactly what assets he had. Yet all he could do for now was to stare at a man who hated him almost more than any other foe. Eventually, Kakashi's gaze faltered as the Sharingan began to ache in his eye socket, something it had been given to do in high-stress situations. He risked raising his headband a bit to rub at the eye with a hand, shutting both eyes in the process. Seeing the pale yellow of the scar under Kakashi's palm brought an idea into Yukio's head, and he was surprised he hadn't thought of it earlier.

"While I know you won't believe me if I just talk to you about it, I can show you proof that I had no choice in fighting your friend," Yukio announced, breaking the silence abruptly, causing Kakashi to jump and gather a few shuriken into his fist. The Cloud stood up, and turned around, undoing his vest's front. Yanking up both it and whatever was under it, he revealed three greenish-brown marks in his ribcage on the right side, each resembling a jagged star. "Do you know what these are?" Yukio asked, though he knew that the Leaf could not possibly mistake them, if his guess was correct.

Kakashi's eye narrowed as he tried to place where he had seen scars like those, then it came to him. "Rin's poison darts…" he admitted hesitantly. Poisoned senbon needles and darts had been Rin's preferred method of attack, taught to her by Tsunade herself, a technique now practiced by Shizune. As a medic, she wasn't strong enough in regular taijutsu to warrant regular weapons, so she improvised with poison attacks. Having been hit by some himself, Kakashi could recognize what untreated wounds from such darts would look like.

"Like I said, I had no choice. It was imperative that we captured a ranking intelligence officer to gain vital information, or we would have sacrificed an entire flank of our defense unnecessarily," Yukio began to explain, his blue eyes flashing, but Kakashi interrupted him, blurting out, "Capture and torture Ibiki, you mean." Growling with frustration, Yukio gritted his teeth. This was proving as difficult as he had expected. "Do you want to know what happened or not?" he demanded, cracking his knuckles in annoyance. Kakashi grimaced under his mask, but fell silent.

"As you well know, we had sent our left flank in a full assault against your lines in Grass country in the hopes of breaking through a perceived weakness, but you kept reinforcing your ranks somehow. We desperately needed to figure a way to outpace you, which meant gathering intelligence, by any means necessary. My team was sent to the other side of the lines, where we had learned the command camp was, in a grab-and-extract mission. It didn't go as planned."

Eleven years ago…

Yukio Katsumasa crouched in the high grasses and waited for Tatsu and Yasuro to catch up. They had been moving along the Aoikage River to make sure that no patrols were going around them, cutting off their escape route through the water. Yukio was the point man, sent ahead to spot the patrol that had the ninja they needed. Not that he was worried. Tatsu and Yasu had been with him since their novice days, the three of them had lost their kunoichi partner, Yae, five years ago, but the three of the former four-ninja Team 2 of Kumogakure were still going strong. Reaching one of the odd rock outcroppings in the otherwise featureless grass sea, Yukio paused and waited. As agreed upon, he took his knife and tapped the hilt sharply against the rock three times and waited. Not six seconds later, he heard a low warbling chirp, Tatsu's response. Good, they were right on time, so far everything was going as planned.

He resumed running; ears wide open for any sounds other than the rustling of the grass from his passage. He was nearing an open clearing in the fields when he heard speech and skidded to a halt, carefully crouched and held his breath, falling absolutely silent. The sounds of talk had stopped briefly, but resumed shortly. Excellent, he hadn't been detected. He ran a hand over his stubbled chin, trying to recall what his commander had told him would be the markings of an intelligence officer. It was only when he heard Yasuro's high-pitched cheeping signal that he remembered. It was the roughly diamond-shaped swirled tattoo of the Konoha ANBU. He honestly didn't know how they were supposed to succeed on this mission. Only he had been promoted to jounin three weeks ago, Tatsu and Yasuro were still chuunins. ANBU were supposed to be the best that Konohagakure no Sato had to offer.

Licking his lips nervously, Yukio crept closer to the clearing before giving the 'ready' signal. He was only sixteen for crying out loud…what was he doing out here, miles away from home, fighting just because he had been told to? Running a hand through his short, spiky hair, he amended that. Cloud needed land; the famine had made it necessary to do food raids as early as seven years ago. It had been a well-kept secret, but Kumogakure no Sato was running close to starvation in the more distant areas, and rationing was present even in the most well stocked cities. The war had started two years ago, when the attempt to seize Grass had been made. But Konoha had fought to protect their ally unexpectedly. Everyone had heard of the attack by the Kyuubi, but no one in Cloud had anticipated that they could recover quickly enough to give aid to the weaker Grass ninja.

Reaching the grasses at the edge of the clearing, he parted the stalks ever so carefully and looked in at the people he had heard talking. It was as he had hoped. The only adult there was a brown-haired man, whose spiky locks spread out over his head-protector. There was a girl with purple bands on her face…a medic by the look of her gear packs…And the prize of the group, a blond-haired, arrogant-looking boy not much older than he was. And he was wearing the gear that had been described to him, a sleeveless white vest, navy ninja pants, the usual shinobi gear, and most importantly, both a white animal mask, and the swirled tattoo on his left arm.

This is what they had been looking for, but now that it was upon him, Yukio wasn't sure what to do. Yasuro's chirp came again, and Yukio was forced to give the 'wait' signal of a grumbling trill, meant to resemble the call of a stag deer from the grasslands. All three Konoha ninja's heads whipped in Yukio's direction upon giving the cry though, and for a moment, the young man's heart leapt up into his chest, and a cold sweat broke out on his skin. But impossibly, a miracle occurred. Not far from where he was crouched, a stag raised its head out of the grass, confused as to where the call from a 'rival male' had come from. Sighing in relief, the Leafs settled back down, the blond boy scratching his head in annoyance, the girl giggling lightly. But the man remained wary, looking around still. He was going to be a problem.

Marking out mentally that he needed to attack the older man first, he gave the signal to attack, the screech of a heron. Hearing the rustling of grasses as his teammates moved in, he took three deep breaths, gathering chakra into his shoulder as he prepared himself. The Leaf ninjas were now looking around again, but it couldn't be helped, it was now or never. Weaving through signs as quickly as he could manage, he released the jutsu just as Tatsu and Yasuro burst through the side of the clearing, drawing the attention of the enemy. "Denkatahiji!" he bellowed, a thrust of his legs heaving him off the ground, as a strong burst of air shot from his feet, propelling him forwards as his left shoulder crackled with electricity. His aim was as true as he could have hoped, and he connected hard with the adult Leaf, a boom of thunder sounding as lightning lashed against the older man's body, burning his face where it hit.

"Raidou!" he heard the girl cry, even as the blond boy lashed out with some kind of fire-based jutsu against Yasuro, who leapt high to avoid it, responding with a hail of knives, propelled by his favorite air jutsu. Even in the midst of the battle, Yukio couldn't help but smirk at the appropriateness of the man's name. But as he recovered from his attack, he was dismayed to see Tatsu being wrapped in a shroud of earth, his attempts to blast himself out using lightning techniques all but useless. Cursing, Yukio ran forwards and blew the dirt away with a burst of wind, freeing Tatsu, but leaving himself open to a strike of darts from the girl. Three pierced his side where the armor was left open, but Tatsu caught two in the throat and went down.

Slicing out with a blade of wind, he forced the girl to dodge, but when he whipped back around, he saw it was too late to help Tatsu. The wounds were turning greenish-black, and air was bubbling from where one had pierced his windpipe. Tatsu's eyes were glazed, and he lay there twitching as the poison was swiftly carried to his brain. Yukio could feel his own side turning numb as the poison worked through him. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes at Tatsu's fate, but he couldn't grieve right now, he had himself and his remaining teammate to worry about. Reaching into his pouch, he took out antivenin and applied it to the wound, a gift from his sister, which he didn't think he had needed, but took it along anyways, a true blessing now.

"Kaze no Kiba!" Yukio growled, forming the signs, and thrust his hands forwards, wind fangs slicing through the grass, narrowly missing the blond Leaf, but it gave Yasuro enough time to perform his own jutsu, "Kirikingake", and mist swirled up from the ground and wrapped itself around the blond ANBU. But the red-haired chuunin was going to have his hands full maintaining the trapping jutsu if the girl was still free. Before the mist gagged him, the boy shouted out, "Run Rin, go get help!" From somewhere in the grass, the girl shrieked, "I won't leave you Ibiki!" That was precisely what Yukio didn't want to hear. A retreat would make their escape all the much easier, they would fade into the grass with their catch in tow if she left, but that didn't seem likely now. His blue eyes narrowed as he searched the grass for movement. Those darts were deadly…if they hit Yasuro, he would be facing down two ninjas at once, alone.

As expected, more needles shot out of the grass, forcing Yukio to sweep out a gust of air to blow them aside, but they kept coming from rapidly changing spots. Comforting himself in that this seemed to be the girl's only attack, the Cloud raced towards what he assumed was her hiding position in the grass and lashed out with a jolt of electricity. But there was no accompanying cry of pain, only the whisper of grass. Cursing, he ran back towards Yasuro, who was struggling mightily to hold the thrashing Ibiki in his grasp. But as his feet pounded the grass, he could hear the girl yelling into a radio for reinforcements, as well as the reply that they'd be there in less than two minutes.

As he entered the clearing once more, his face blanched when he saw the needles sticking out of Yasuro's leg, his sweating face, and the now free hands and face of the Leaf. Gasping for breath, Yasuro's otherwise slender and feminine face was contorted in agony and effort, and yelled to Yukio, "Please, get her! I can't hold him and fight her at the same time!"

More darts now lashed out from the grass, and Yukio barely managed to block them with his sword. The situation was deteriorating rapidly. From here, even he could hear the rustling of grass from far to their left, where the Leaf reinforcements were surely coming from. He had no choice, it was she, or him and his only friend left alive. He had never performed this jutsu outside of training, but it covered a large enough area to get her no matter where she hid. He gathered his chakra carefully, he needed to expend just the right amount to be able to complete the powerful technique and still have enough energy to get out of there.

He had sworn only to use this jutsu only in the most desperate of times, and this didn't seem to qualify somehow in his mind…if only he could find her, he wouldn't have to do this. But he could not fight a new team of shinobi all by his lonesome, the information from the ANBU was too important to let go. Weaving the symbols in the air, he named the Four Winds, "Boreas! Eustus! Notus! Favonus!" Glowing marks of chakra appeared in the air as his energy gathered to those four spots. Gathering the right elements to each symbol, Yukio noticed the girl emerging from the grass, a kunai in her fist, apparently out of darts. But it was too late for her. "Cloud Shinobi secret technique, Yon-Kaze Hukisusapu!" Yukio cried, sweeping his chakra-laden hands in a wide circle, connecting the four symbols with a glowing ring of wind chakra. With a roar, the winds burst forth from their cages and rushed forwards, each bearing their element with them, ice, thunder, water, and fire. The freed winds expanded out in a growing compass pattern, at their fullest they would cover nearly twenty meters of the grasslands. Even if one or two winds were blocked, the remaining spiraling winds would catch anyone unfortunately to have been in the direction of the jutsu when it had been unleashed. Nobody was quick enough to escape it.

Rin saw the attack coming, but could not stop in time. She dodged to the side with all her strength, but the fiery Favonus wind was coming too fast. It hit her full on in her legs and midsection, charring her lower body into ashes. Boreas barreled past her as well, freezing what Favonus had singed. His breaths coming ragged with exertion, Yukio stumbled towards Yasuro, who had collapsed to one knee. Almost casually, the coal-haired youth brought an elbow crashing down on Ibiki's temple, knocking him out. Yukio carefully applied the antivenin to Yasuro's leg, and helped him lift the unconscious ANBU onto their shoulders. As they turned to leave, Yukio saw out of the corner of his eye a white-haired Leaf shinobi burst into the clearing. This new arrival was about the same age as Yukio, but he looked somehow more experienced, more serious. But as he noticed his fallen comrade, he dashed to her side, leaving them alone, but the two Clouds could hear the rest of the reinforcements coming fast.

Without further ado, they carried the Leaf away, not hearing the cry of pain and loss that a young man who had lost everything let rip from his soul behind them.

Present day.

Kakashi's eyes still blazed, but he had relaxed his position into the chair, and had a resigned look on his face. "So, you probably only survived thanks to your sister," he stated, knowing what Yukio's likely response would be. "Yes, but we both know what happened to her, don't we?" Yukio replied drolly, a bitter smirk on his face.

But before either man could snap at the other, a knock came at the door. Sighing, Kakashi reached over and opened the door without getting up, admitting Tsunade, followed by Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Tenten, Rock Lee, and Shino. Yukio's face relaxed as he saw how many had come, eight was better than he had hoped. But when he saw bugs flitting from underneath Shino's collar, he stood up and raised both hands in a halting gesture. "You're an insect user…an Aburame, correct? You probably shouldn't go on this mission, given who you'll be facing," he told the boy, who pushed up his shades and looked at the Cloud jounin expressionlessly. Naruto began to protest, but Shino himself hushed the blond, asking flatly, "There will not be any there that do not know Thunder jutsus?" At Yukio's shake of the head, Shino turned without a word and went out the door again, as silently as he had entered.

Naruto was scratching his head in confusion when Shikamaru noticed the confused look on his friend's face. "How troublesome," he grumbled, drawing Naruto's attention. "What?" Naruto asked dully, still not comprehending why Shino left. Exasperated, the shadow-manipulating ninja was about to explain when Ino leaned in and exclaimed tartly, flipping her long blond bangs back from her face, "You dummy! If Shino tries to fight the Clouds, they'll fry his bugs like a giant fly-zapper!" Naruto remembered in a flash the sizzling and popping of the fly-zapper outside Ichiraku, and grimaced when he saw what Ino meant…Shino himself would be in a great deal of trouble, given how integrated the bugs were with him.

Yukio stood up and went to the blackboard at the end of the room, and the corners of his mouth turned down involuntarily when he saw the expressions on the faces regarding him. Tsunade and Naruto looked at him with a mixture of hope and regret; Rock Lee and Chouji were the only ones who seemed genuinely excited to have him here, and the others all regarded him with suspicion. Knowing that he'd best start explaining things before tensions came to a head, he sighed and began. "I called you all here for a delicate reason. The younger sister of one of your classmates, the girl called Hanabi of the Hyuuga family, has likely been kidnapped by some of my countrymen, who have gone rogue."

As he expected, this caused a great deal of anxious and even angry chatter. Kiba growled from where he sat, his white dog Akamaru echoing the guttural noise from where he lay beside the hooded boy's chair, an intimidating sight, now that the former puppy was now the size of a wolf. The Inuzuka boy finally yelled, "What do you mean, rogue? They're your allies, right? If you think we're going to start trusting you…" But Kiba was cut off by Yukio, who shouted at the Leaf boy, "I don't expect you to trust me, I expect you to follow orders, soldier, got it! I know two things: One! That you want this girl back, unharmed if possible. Two! That if she dies, or if these bastards manage to extract the Byakugan jutsu from her body, both of our countries are in a lot of trouble, and I…don't…WANT THAT!" Kiba fell silent, shocked by the outburst from the formerly calm Cloud Nin.

Yukio seethed, but struggled to keep himself under control. He reached inside his vest and pulled out a pack of jerky, trying to convince himself it was the hunger that was doing this to him, that he wasn't old enough for…But he realized he needed to set things right, and calm the nervous teenagers. Calming himself, he stood back upright, chewing on a piece of the jerky, and continued, "As I said, the group that I followed here are acting on their own. They are not sanctioned by the Cloud Shinobi headquarters, and are all members of one kin group, similar to your families. They have tried to kidnap the older of the Hyuuga main family daughters before, and they may have tried again, except we know that…Hinata is safe. They want the Byakugan for themselves, so that they might further their clan's power struggles, and to garner favor with the Raikage. But what they only faintly realize is that such an attack on Leaf will start a war, and neither of our countries can handle that at the moment. This conflict is pointless, and the Dragon Summit, our special shinobi corps, has sent me to either convince the Yamakata clan to turn back, or take them out."

"Why do you need us for then?" Chouji asked, eyeing the beef jerky that Yukio held in his hand. But Shikamaru, running his thumb over his chin gave a snort as he realized the answer to Chouji's question. "You got something, Shikamaru?" Chouji asked, recognizing the sign of an idea popping into his friend's mind. Yukio smiled faintly at their banter…after all, they were like he and…it was better not to think about that, so he gestured to Shikamaru and said, "I think this young man has realized it, go ahead, tell them." Shikamaru's almond-shaped eyes crinkled in amusement and pride, and he stood up and turned to face his former classmates. "If you were trying to get into a bandit's base, and you were dressed as one of them, would you bring in a bunch of police with you to take them out? Or people they didn't recognize?" he explained to them. "Precisely," Yukio called from behind him, "I cannot ask the older shinobi of the Leaf to help me, since they would be recognized by the Yamakatas. But you seven haven't attracted enough renown yet to be recognized by sight, or have any particularly family-related features. But there is another reason why I have asked you in particular to come along."

"And that is…?" Ino demanded impatiently, her pupil-less blue eyes looking straight at the older man. Yukio's own blue eyes drilled back into hers, wordlessly mocking her for her lack of tact, but he replied, "Because most of you also have had practice fighting in sightless environments. I will be using a jutsu that will remove all sight and hamper other senses, making those with visual jutsus useless. Some of you can hunt by smell or hearing," gesturing to Kiba, "Others can attack at a distance, or take control of the enemy," sweeping his hand towards Shikamaru and Ino, who were sitting rather closely together with Tenten nearby, "Or you have enough raw power to make up for any other special skills, once I deem the odds evened up," finishing by pointing fingers at Chouji, Lee, and Naruto. Though they had gained respect by becoming chuunins or greater, the young Leafs felt a surge of pride that they had been chosen by an expert ninja of another land for such an important mission.

Yukio walked over to a table where he had laid several packs, which he had hidden out in the forest earlier, where they had been tied to a horse he had brought. Gesturing to the parcels, he told the gathered ninja, "These are Cloud chuunin uniforms. They contain a scarf, which you can choose to wear or not to help conceal the fact that you are not from Cloud. I recommend that you stay silent when I take you to their camp, and wait until I perform my jutsu to attack. I will try of course to negotiate Hanabi's freedom before that, but I know their leader…and he and I are…not the best of friends. You can prepare however you like, just be ready to leave by tomorrow dawn." Realizing his hunger and exhaustion, he staggered off to a chair in a corner of the room and flopped down, reaching deeply into the bag of jerky and chewing the beef ravenously. Recognizing that Yukio would rather be alone, the younger Leafs picked through the packs until they found uniforms close to their sizes, and left.

Tsunade and Kakashi had stayed behind, but with a look, Tsunade indicated that the white-haired jounin should leave as well. Kakashi was about to complain, but when the Hokage's glare deepened, he shrugged and slunk out, giving a dark look to Yukio before he headed out. As soon as the door closed, Tsunade sighed with relief and walked over to Yukio and placed a hand on his forehead before he could protest. "Why do you do this to yourself? You need to eat more, or else you'll need to feed off of…" she began, but Yukio waved her off, and responded, "I know, it's my family's curse, nobody knows better than I." "Suit yourself," Tsunade murmured, moving to a chair nearby, sitting down and folding one leg over the other and observed him while he ate. After a while, she asked, "I can guess why you came without other Clouds, but you're still acting rather recklessly, and it's not like you. Just why did you come alone, and why are you acting so strangely?" Yukio raised his ice-blue eyes to look at the Sannin, and he heaved a deep breath, wondering what to tell her.

After a few more bites, finishing off the jerky, he told the blond woman, "Because, frankly, they still don't trust me fully, even back home. I can probably guess that's what happened to 'her' when she came back, am I right?" Tsunade knew right away what he meant, and the pained look that she had on her face earlier returned. "I don't know the full story, but yes, Anko has had a difficult time since she returned to us. I helped her the best I could, but eventually I had to leave. Since I've returned, I've noticed that she's been trying, but with her personality…it has…been troublesome." When Yukio raised his head again to look at her, Tsunade was startled by the pain and loneliness she saw in his eyes as he demanded, "Why didn't she recognize me, sensei? Why did she fight me?" Tsunade got off of her chair and hurried to him, clasping her arms around him, careful not to press against his bad arm, and he curled his good arm about her shoulder. After a while, Yukio sighed, and breathed, "Thanks, I needed that I guess." But the look he got from Tsunade was a stern one. "I don't know what you intend to do with Anko, but I urge you to just leave her alone. Her mind was badly disjointed when she returned, I healed her as best as I could, but some of her memories have been suppressed because of her trauma. If you try to remind her, you could well drive her mad," Tsunade told him, her face gravely serious. Yukio returned her look, disturbing the older woman with his intensity. "She's all I've got left of those days…the only one who knew what we both went through," he stated, getting up and walking to the door before Tsunade could grab a hold of him. Before he walked out, he turned back and looked at the Sannin and hissed, "She and I still bear the same mark on our shoulders. If anything, one of us will have revenge."

Thirteen miles out from Konoha…

Hanabi woke up to total darkness. Was it night out? She could hear crickets, but she couldn't see anything, which worried her. Was she blindfolded? It seemed she was, as when she raised her hand up to her face to check, bandages were wrapped around her eyes. She sat up, finding she wasn't bound, but as she did so, a wave of dizziness swept over her, and she nearly vomited. Steadying herself, she placed one hand on the cot that she had been placed on, and with her other yanked the bandages off, and opened her eyes. The darkness continued, despite the fact that she could hear a fire crackling. She was growing increasingly frightened. Even when she had woken up in the middle of the night in all her young years, she had always been quick to adjust her night vision to see. This total blackness was terrifying. What had happened to her eyes? She reached her hands up to her face, feeling for her eyes…

Her screams broke the night in the Yamakata's camp, and Soshiro chuckled to himself as he relished the victory his hard work had presented him with. In the dish at his side, two silvery disks glittered in the firelight.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Just doesn't fit

Anko signed the self-release papers with relief, but without her usual impatience. She had thought much over the past few days, and was still thinking. Though she couldn't get much thinking done with all the nurses and staff coming to check in on her at all hours of the day, she mused, signing her name at the bottom, dropping the pen onto the desk. Though it was still warm out, she clutched her short jacket about her as she went outside, and saw that it was a cloudy, misty kind of a day. It had rained earlier, it seemed to her, as it wasn't as humid as a day like this should have been. And indeed, there were still puddles on the ground. Reaching into the plastic bag Sakura had given her, she pulled out the sports bottle of water and took a swig, settling it back with a comforting answer of crinkling plastic.

It was funny to her, that she would find a hospital bed a better rest than her own mattress at her flat, but that was probably because she had gotten the rotten thing for dirt cheap, like much of what she owned, because she was refused most missions requiring…diplomacy. She had been saving up for a featherbed, and now more than ever it seemed like a good investment. She headed up the main street of Konoha, noting that few people were walking about besides her, but the stores were as crammed full of people as usual. She turned down the avenue that led westward towards her apartment and shuffled along, not really looking at anything in particular, or really even thinking, just taking things in, as if she could get a new perspective on things just by wishing it. But as her eyes wandered, they landed upon a sight she never thought she'd see.

Shizune and Iruka were sitting on the street bench, a bag of taiyaki between them. Iruka was talking quietly to the dark-haired woman, and she was laughing lightly, holding her hand daintily in front of her mouth. It was a weekend, and both of them had time off, but Iruka, stodgy as ever, was still wearing his chuunin gear, while astonishingly, Shizune had abandoned her usual black attire for a light blue summer dress. Like a cat that had gotten into the cream, Anko's lips curled into a sly smile, and she crept stealthily closer, hoping to snag a choice bit of conversation. As she drew near, she could hear Iruka finishing a story he had been apparently telling to Shizune. "…and after Naruto did that, I could scarcely get through a lesson without some damn kid trying out that 'Sexy-no-jutsu' thing he did. Of course, they'd mess it up most of the time, some kids made girls that looked like sticks, others like some fat mother-in-law, but even so, I'm willing to bet the local convenience store made a mint on tissues that week!" he was telling the assistant, making gestures with his hands to imitate the frames of the borked illusions the cadets had tried.

Anko could barely avoid snorting, but remained silent, and was rewarded by hearing Shizune reply, "And…do you think, with those who were successful, did you see any that were close to the way I look?" Anko gave a silent whistle, though somewhat awkward, what a loaded question! Fortunately for Iruka, after some thought, was able to reply, "No, I'd say that none could match you in looks." That was exactly what Shizune wanted to hear, but as she leaned in closer, it was clear that he had meant it to defuse a potential blow-up rather than a sincere compliment. Poor dolphin-sensei…looks like it was up to ol' An-chan to save the day. Stepping right up to the bench, she chirped, "Well, looks like you don't even dress down on the weekends, Iruka-kun!" Startled, Iruka jumped, and Shizune pulled back swiftly, her face as red as a beet.

The poison-dart user glared behind her hand at the interloper, and muttered, "So…just get out of the hospital, did you, Mitarashi-san? So nice to see you're…healthy again," but Anko gave it no notice. Anko thought of saying something arch, but decided against it, choosing instead to remark, "That reminds me, didn't you say that those latest tests had you back up in marking, Iru-kun?" With a pathetically grateful look, Iruka blushed and stood up with a start, and backing away slowly, he nodded to Shizune and remarked, "I really should get on that…Maybe we can meet again later, Shizune…chan?" Shizune had been almost growling, but was disarmed by that last word, and nodded wordlessly. She turned to yell at Anko, but was surprised to see her walking off without saying another word. That confused her to no end. Anko always rubbed it in. Her hand went to her lips again, this time in concern. Just what had happened to Anko?

Anko stepped up to the door to her apartment building, looked at the peeling paint on the door and sighed. This was what her choices had brought her. Why couldn't she be more civil? She felt that she deserved respect, but what did she really do to earn it? While she had been at the top of her class ages ago…that all changed when…it was better not to think about it, she amended, and turned the key in the lock. She was about to enter into the hallway with the flickering light that never seemed to burn out when she saw something out of the corner of her eye that made her stop. A tall man had just passed quickly by the intersection not far from here, and following him was…! Anko leaned out the door and watched closely, observing Tenten, Chouji, and Ino disappear as well, and then a few seconds later, Kakashi jogged by. The kids had all been wearing what appeared to be whitish camouflage, and Kakashi had been wearing his ANBU uniform. She had seen that kind of camouflage before, but never outside of… "Oh my," she found herself saying. Where was a team of ten shinobi, including at least one ANBU heading off, wearing Snow or Cloud gear? She made a move to head down the stairs, but she tripped and fell to the ground, her palms slapping onto the rough pavement. Now her hands as well as her knees and wrists hurt…she decided that if she was going to pursue that Cloud, she wasn't about to do it unless she was really at full strength…and she wasn't about to beat a man senseless in front of kids. If she could really do so, she wondered to herself.

Ten miles outside Konoha…

Yukio had pulled his mask on a short while back, making his identity unmistakable to anyone who looked, but even though he was in enemy country still, he needed to be recognized as a Cloud by anyone watching. A quick glance behind him revealed that the Leaf kids were following him closely, doing admirably, even though some of them were only chuunins. On his advice, the Akimichi and Inuzuka boys had covered up their facial markings with the scarves, the others had left the white strip behind, but that was fine. Judging from what he had seen thus far, they would aid him every bit as well as a team from Kumogakure could do. Still, the toughest part was ahead. If Soshiro had extracted the jutsu, then there would be no other choice than to fight. Even if he had removed the girl's eyes to begin the process, so long as no Yamakata got the secret of the jutsu, Yukio could still walk out of this a hero.

Though the boy named Shikamaru looked grim, it seemed that the other Konoha youths were having fun, Naruto was grinning outright, and Kiba's eyes twinkled above his scarf, and even Ino was smirking. He wished he could still feel that excited about missions, but as he knew too well, they were often just business at the upper levels…deadly business. Kakashi was doing well to stay hidden; Yukio couldn't notice him at all, at least not while running. Thankfully, there had been no animosity, at least overtly between them so far this morning, and he hoped that by leading them right to the Yamakata camp, his story would be proven.

He didn't have long to wait, for half an hour later, two white-clad Cloud Nins stepped out from behind trees and moved their hands palm out and called out, "Halt! Name and rank, if you be Cloud!" As he had instructed, the kids lined up behind him in a straight line, and with hands behind their backs. Looking intently at the taller guard, who seemed to be the more junior, Yukio glared at him through the eyeholes of his mask and grumbled, "You mean you can't tell? What do they teach you at the academy these days?" The blond man took a step back, and gulped, stammering, "We…we have to be sure, uh, sir." The shorter man, though also perturbed, stepped forwards and said, "Forgive him sir, he's new. But still, we do need proof you're you, beyond the mask, Katsumasa-san." Lifting up his vest and what was under it, Yukio revealed his abdomen, which at first glance was blank, but it seemed to shimmer, and a black tattoo was revealed, that of an outline of a mountain with a dragon curled around it.

"The Dragon Summit mark…you mean people actually get up there!" the taller guard whispered to his partner, only to receive a faint nod. The shorter, dark-haired guard stood up straight and stated, "Welcome to outpost Fox, Katsumasa-sama. Are these reinforcements?" looking to the younger ninjas standing behind the Cloud. Yukio nodded, his heart pounding. This all depended on the guards not asking questions…he was betting a lot hoping that his rank and reputation would get him past the checkpoint. But the shorter guard waved him on, and Yukio relaxed, ever so slightly, and motioned for the Leafs to follow him. The taller guard made a move to look closer at the kids, but his partner held him back, giving him a significant look.

The 'outpost' was really just a collection of military tents around a few fire pits, and a half-dozen sentry posts, all of whom waved or saluted as he passed. Though he saw few smiles, Yukio was at least comforted by the fact that he at least had respect; he had worked damn hard to earn it. He looked for the science tent, but before he could go anywhere, he heard a silky smooth view drawl, "Why, Katsumasa-SAMA, how lovely for you to join us! I hope that you're not just here for tea-time…" Cursing under his breath, Yukio turned to see Soshiro sitting on a log near a fire, wearing silvery sunglasses, and his usual white and gold ensemble, twirling that ridiculous cane of his around.

"Yamakata-dono," Yukio replied curtly, motioning for the Leafs to take positions on the different logs, to stay loose but ready. Soshiro of course noticed the younger shinobi, and smiled secretly, instantly suspicious. "Awfully interesting to find you here, Yukio! As I recall, you were trying to tell Raikage-sama not to let us come…why the change of heart?" Soshiro almost purred, leaning forwards to rest his chin on his cane. Yukio rolled his eyes under the protection of the dark of his mask. Already he was starting in on this faux-riche sensibility crap. Soshiro did belong to a famous clan, but he and his brother had gambled most of their holdings away, yet the bastard still put on airs as if he was still in his family's glory-days.

Hoping to lend credence to his story, Yukio leaned forwards, and grumbled in a low voice, "Can it, 'buddy'. If I had my way, I'd still be taking some R&R at the Silbernlachen hot springs, but I'm here on intelligence duty…to help check your patrol lines, and see what results, if any you've gotten." But Soshiro wasn't buying it. It was too soon after his departure for the Summit to get worried about his progress, and though there might well be political pressure forcing the Katsumasa here, he wasn't about to bite just yet. If he was on Intel duty, why did he need a team of eight chuunins? Soshiro leaned back and gave Yukio a cold smile that he recognized all too well. "That's awfully nice of you, and since you're being so nice, why don't I show you how well things have been going?" With that, he lowered the silver sunglasses, and for a moment, Yukio couldn't tell what had changed, but then he realized it. Soshiro's irises and pupil were silver…he had acquired the Byakugan. Yukio realized that Soshiro knew that he was giving b.s. answers as to why he was here, and was showing Yukio this not as a boast of good fortune, but to show him that his position against the war was already in it deep.

But before he could formulate any kind of plan, he heard commotion from behind him. Chouji, unable to resist the beef stew that had been cooking over one of the fires, had lowered his scarf and was helping himself to a bowl. But it wasn't the unorthodox protocol that had caused the uproar. One of the older Clouds had recognized the swirls on the boy's cheeks as a mark of the Akimichi clan, and was shouting for reinforcements. A quick glance back to Soshiro revealed a smug look on the silver-haired man's face. "No choice," Yukio repeated in his head, gathered chakra into his hands, and called out, "Kumo no Houmurisate!" In seconds the clouds flowed out from the center created at the center, the Leafs sprung into action.

Following what Yukio had told him, Naruto lashed out any time he came close to someone speaking in the odd, almost growling and spitting native language of Cloud, or saw someone in the mist that didn't resemble any of his friends, as the Yamakatas all wore gilt daggers belted on their back, an unfortunately easy to identify symbol. He didn't know why, but when he embraced the red chakra of the Kyuubi, he could hear a lot more than he could normally, and he was especially glad for that as he was nearly deafened the last time he had been caught up in this jutsu. Yukio had them practice fighting in it once or twice yesterday, and Naruto had done especially well since he had been stuck in it when Yukio has fought Neji. He could hear Akamaru growling and barking faintly off in the distance, which could mean that he was either twenty feet away, or two inches away, it could be either in this dumb fog…He didn't know how Kiba had managed to secret the full-grown dog in his jacket, but he had pulled it off.

But as swiftly as the fog has risen, it disappeared suddenly, even as Naruto planted a Rasengan straight into the back of one of the swiftly decreasing Yamakatas. Naruto feared for a moment that Yukio had been knocked out, but saw that it was actually worse. Soshiro held Hanabi in one arm, a sword in his other hand that bore his cane head on the top…no, it was his cane, which he had hid the blade in! Across from him was Yukio, breathing hard. Across the ground were littered the unconscious bodies of fallen Cloud soldiers, and the other Leafs were looking around, confused as to why the battle had ended so suddenly. Yukio had lifted his hands out, and was making calming motions, saying, "All right, Soshiro, it was a set-up, but you've already gotten what you wanted from the girl, let her go."

Unexpectedly, Soshiro raised his head, as if struck by the idea. "You know what? You're absolutely right!" he exclaimed, and without warning, hurled the girl full strength against a nearby tree. He made a move to kick her, but Ino, using a possessed Cloud, intercepted the blow and carried the girl to safety. Yukio couldn't believe his eyes. Did he really just throw away so casually his only bargaining chip? Was this really the permanent chuunin that he thought he knew? Soshiro grinned at the older man and smirked, running his hands lightly along his embroidered vest, and remarked, "Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I know because I intended it that way." He had puffed up his eyes with the Byakugan, and began pacing around the camp, forcing Yukio to circle to keep him in view. Soshiro kept staring at Yukio with that half-crazed state he occasionally had, made even more eerie by the blank transplanted Hyuuga eyes.

"Do you know why you're gonna lose, Yukio-SAMA!" he called in a sing-song voice, twirling lightly on his feet. "No, why? Please elucidate for me," Yukio responded, hoping to goad him. Yet in a flash, Soshiro dissolved into a puddle of bubbles, and Yukio dodged out the way instinctively, narrowly missing being touched by Soshiro's bubble-filled hand. Mildly surprised that his ruse hadn't worked, Soshiro still wasn't that put off, and was still smiling. "Because you, like all the other poor bastards before you, underestimated me. Because I wear this 'foppery', because I blow my money on champagne and truffles, because I affect poetry and gatherings, you all think I'm soft!" As Yukio circled, he unexpectedly slipped in a pool of slippery mud that he swore couldn't have been there a second ago. Soshiro dashed forwards, and planted a fist to Yukio's stomach, leaving a cluster of thunder-bubbles there.

Angered by Soshiro's attack, Naruto dashed forwards and tried to punch this freak into the stratosphere, but he was rewarded by plunging wrist-deep into another bubble-doppelganger, and received a blob of his own lightning-bubbles on his back, which Soshiro promptly set off, sending a bolt of pain through the blond teen's body, causing him to convulse on the ground. "Nice kid, where'd you dig him up, the ninja kindergarten?" Soshiro trilled, sauntering around again. Not bothering to give Naruto a second thought, he turned back to Yukio, and continued on in his tirade. "The name of the game here, is mis-inter-pre-tation! I deliberately fool people into thinking they can jerk me around, but in the end, they're the ones who are played! Over-es-ti-mation! You high and mighty 'established clans' like to toy with the 'lesser clans', you get everything while we languish, yet I'm here to prove everything wrong!" Yukio weaved forms with his hands and split into four, weaving in different directions, hoping that Soshiro would try another sneak attack, but he merely snapped his fingers and the bubbles on his stomach burst, sending him and his kage-bunshins to the ground, leaving the only true Yukio there. Soshiro wasted no time in casting a whole cloud of bubbles on top of the Cloud.

"You see? Now you're trapped in my 'bubble-bath'! Everyone always thought that my bubbles were too 'girlish' for a ninja to use, but you see how effective they are? Just try moving around, or releasing chakra! Either you pop 'em, or I pop 'em, either way yer dead!" Soshiro clucked as Yukio rose shakily, clutching his stomach, but the Yamakata was unsettled when he saw Yukio smiling. Behind Soshiro, coming at full speed, was Kakashi, lightning crackling from his fist as he prepared to release the Chidori. Following Yukio's gaze, Soshiro realized his mistake, and began to dodge, but realized he wouldn't make it. Unexpectedly, the bubbles on the ground from one of his doppelgangers rose up and reassembled briefly into thunder-bubbles, which Kakashi collided with. With a dual explosion, a white flash lit the area. When it cleared, Kakashi was standing against a tree, nursing a burnt hand, he had stopped himself in time, and had released the chakra shot, but it hadn't penetrated through far enough to reach Soshiro.

"How the hell could he reassemble a doppelganger so fast? Nobody, not even Mist ninjas' water bunshins can be reformed that quickly?" Yukio wondered to himself. "You see? I've been practicing. They almost have to admit me to the Dragon Summit now," Soshiro chuckled, twirling his cane-sword in the air, pleased with himself. Yukio gave him such a grimace that he was momentarily taken aback, as the black-haired man hissed, "You only get to be in the Dragon Summit when you make it up the mountain. Until you do, don't even pretend to be on the same level! You can just stay down at the bottom in the…in the…" As he was completing his sentence, Yukio grasped a strategy that he hadn't even thought of before.

With no warning, Yukio threw himself forwards at great speed. Soshiro sighed, and dodged, patting Yukio's back half-heartedly, leaving more thunder-bubbles. But before he could explode them, Yukio splashed into the mud-pool that Soshiro had left, and rolled out, splattering Soshiro with mud. Outraged, Soshiro squawked, and snapped his fingers, only to see his bubbles explode harmlessly on the surface of the pool. "What?" he wondered aloud. From his left, he saw a spray of dirt and mud coming right at him. He tried throwing more bubbles at them, but they detonated harmlessly against the earth, and he was nearly half-drowned in mud. Coughing and spluttering, Soshiro found himself using his newly borrowed Byakugan more and more. It was how he had spotted Kakashi coming, otherwise he'd be in two pieces. But he couldn't keep up with Yukio's speed. As he spun, trying to catch his former superior, another load of dirt, rock, and earth pounded down on top of his formerly pristine outfit, bludgeoning him with the weight of that much soil tossed at him. "Stop throwing mud like a kid!" he screeched, outraged now. He was covered head and foot with dirt.  
"Sure, given that you can't use your bubbles now," Yukio said, grinding to a halt. With a shock, Soshiro realized he was right. The bubbles wouldn't form, being trapped under the dirt, but he had another ace up his sleeve. The bubbles from his last clone coalesced and latched onto Yukio. Sighing with relief, Soshiro glared at Yukio and hissed, "Well, I may not be able to burst them myself anymore, but use any chakra, and you'll set them all off at once! And these you can't remove unless I'm dead!" But his already pale face turned bone white when Yukio cracked his knuckles and muttered, "I fail to see how that's a problem."

With blinding speed, Yukio dashed forwards and plowed his left fist into Soshiro's chest. Ribs cracked and he coughed blood as Soshiro realized his biggest mistake. Yukio didn't need chakra at all to use Taijutsu. And he had neglected that in perfecting his new ninjutsu…The sodden Cloud attempted to dodge, but he was caught with an elbow from Kakashi, who had recovered, and it nearly broke his jaw. He found himself fighting two ninjas at once. Still, he was fast himself, and managed, despite taking several more hits, to leap away, and he landed upon a tree limb high above them, screaming down at them, "This isn't over! I can still go back to Kumogakure with these eyes, and they'll hail me as a hero, and you'll be thrown in jail for treason!" Yukio said softly to himself as he subtly coiled a length of wire he had hidden earlier about his wrist, "I can't allow you to do that." With a yank, he pulled hard on the wire, and his katana, which he had thrown up into the trees during his clouding jutsu was pulled towards him at great speed, and since Soshiro just happened to be in the way, it caught him in the back, impaling him through his right lung, and sending him to the ground with a hard thud. Yukio walked slowly up to Soshiro as he lay there gasping. He raised his right foot above Soshiro's head as he got close enough, and readied it for the final blow. Soshiro's only good eye bugged out from his mud-stained head, as he gasped, "You…can't!" Yukio gave a sad smile as he replied, "Who's underestimating who now?" and brought his foot down.

Back in Konohagakure….

Yukio rubbed his eyes, he was dog-tired. He had sent out the flares that indicated his mission was a success, and within a few hours, the diplomat from Cloud had moved in to confirm the kill of Yamakata Soshiro. The hunter-nins of Cloud accompanying the diplomat disposed of the body swiftly, charring it to ash with concentrated thunder jutsus. The diplomat, Toshiaki, was very 'annoyed' as he put it, that Yukio had eliminated any possibility of reclaiming the Byakugan from Soshiro's remains, but agreed that it was best to avoid any further tension between the two nations. As if there could be any more without war, as Hyuuga Hiashi was beyond furious that his youngest daughter had lost both her eyes. Though there had been blind shinobi in the past, it required a vast deal of extra training, and Hanabi had permanently lost the ability to use the Byakugan. Still, Toshiaki had done his job, and was even now signing the non-aggression treaty with Tsunade in the ready-room of the Konoha shinobi headquarters.

That wasn't what either Yukio or Toshiaki had wanted, they had come with a friendship treaty and a food trade proposal, but on the grounds of the non-aggression pact signed with Rock after the last war, they'd be violating it to accept a more positive treaty with Cloud. No matter…if Leaf had signed a non-aggression pact, Grass would be open to negotiations. It was now late afternoon, but Yukio realized that he'd be expected to follow soon after the diplomat had left. But…he realized with the growl in his stomach, he still had time left for dinner.

There was a crowd at Ichiraku Ramen, but space was made for him at the counter, and despite the distrustful looks that some patrons gave him, others demanded a blow-by-blow account of how he had 'single-handedly' stopped a war between Cloud and Fire country. He told them as much as he could, but they hardly left him alone. While he was eating, he saw Naruto come and stop there, and while he couldn't fit into the crowd, he did get some pork ramen, and was staring at him throughout his meal, clearly wanting to talk to him. Finishing off his own ramen, Yukio excused himself, and picked up his pack to go, and walked off slowly, and Naruto fell in step with him after a few moments.

As he walked towards the gate, relieved that he no longer had to remain hidden, the two ninjas walked in silence, Naruto had his head downcast. Finally, the blond-haired boy spoke up and said, "I'm sorry." That surprised Yukio. His eyebrows raised up high above his blue eyes as he replied, "For what? You really helped me out in stopping the Yamakata clan." "That's not it, for doubting you. You really wanted to help us, and all I could see was that you were from Cloud after I saw Neji fight you, when we had been friends before. I just want to…" Naruto began, but Yukio waved him off. "Forget about it, I'm used to it, besides, now that the treaty has been signed, you really can come and visit me!" he told the younger boy, and Naruto's deep blue eyes lit up.

As they reached the gate, Naruto flashed the thumbs-up sign and yelled, "I'll hold you to that promise of a real Cloud steak when I see you again!" Yukio smiled genuinely for the first time in a while, his eyes crinkling as he waved back and replied, "I won't forget it!" Hoisting his satchel onto his back, Yukio walked down the path, receiving not more than a nod from the gate guards as he headed off on his way. As he walked through the sunset-reddened forest, Yukio took in the sounds of crickets as he walked slowly, allowing himself a chance to relax for once in a while. It was not something he was used to, being treated like any other normal traveler, even a celebrity. Either his respect was based on fear or rank, or he was just flat out disliked, because of his family…and because of his history. But that didn't matter here. All Konoha knew was that he had preserved their peace in a year when they had known only conflict.

It was an hour later when he realized he had a follower, and stopped and waited patiently for her to catch up. "You're not wearing your mask," Anko pointed out hesitantly as she approached. Wanting respect this time, she had dressed in full ANBU gear, mask included, her tattoo clearly showing on her arm, swords belted to her back, but the Cloud didn't seem all that disturbed to see her here. But all her planning, all her pep talks, all her strategy melted away upon seeing his face. Unexplainable emotions churned within her as she took in his unbound, wild hair, friendly expression, tired blue eyes that reflected the rose of the sunset, that dark beard framing his cut jaw…Wait, what was she thinking? She didn't know him from anywhere, he just had one of those faces….

Now more anxious than confident, she unsheathed one of her swords, and leveled it at him, demanding, "So, are you going to fight me for real now?" But her arm wobbled when she saw his eyes grow terribly sad at her words. Where had she seen that expression before! "Perhaps we can do this without masks? I've already taken off mine," Yukio told her, realizing that he would have to work to get her to remember. Shakily, Anko removed her cat-shaped ANBU mask, and clipped it to her shoulder. "Can you see me clearly now, Anko? Still don't recognize me?" he asked, stepping closer to her, his arms outstretched in a peaceable gesture, but his unexpected movement caused her to back up and raise her sword against him once again. She was racking her brain now furiously…where did she know him from? A hint of a name came to her in her struggles, and with great effort, she tried to force it from her trembling lips, "You're Yu…ya…yu-something…" she stuttered out, disgusted with herself. Why was he acting like they were long-lost buddies or something?

"Yukio. Katsumasa Yukio. It's been a while, Anko," he greeted her again, more formally this time. A spike of pain shot through her head as the full name brought back some kind of flash of remembrance. "Yukio…?" she whimpered, holding the side of her head. Yukio grimaced as he saw her anguish. Tsunade had been right, but he had to do this. She was right here, right now, he might never get another chance at this. He had to risk it. "Perhaps this will make you remember, Anko. We were only enemies at first…you may have forgotten our slavery together, but sometimes it's all I can think about…we both still bear its marks…though mine has been somewhat…altered," he told her, as he moved his vest aside, sliding it down his back and letting it drop to the ground. Anko didn't notice the soft sound it made as it struck earth. Her breath came in short gasps as she recognized the mark on his shoulder. There, right in the same spot as her own was a curse seal. And not just any curse seal, but it was the same as her own, Orochimaru's Heaven Seal. But one of the three '9' shapes was pure, shining white with a slim black outline. It was then that she felt what would make a migraine seem like an ice-cream headache, and spots and sparks swam in front of her eyes as she began to slip to the ground, clutching her skull in agony. She didn't notice that Yukio caught her in his arms as she blacked out, his worried face fading into nothingness.

To be continued…


End file.
